Man admits throwing boy from 15th floor

Man admits throwing boy from 15th floor of condo; says he was depressed.

A man arrested Saturday for alleged assault has admitted to throwing a boy to his death from the 15th floor of a Kanagawa Prefecture condominium building last month, police said.
Kenji Imai, 41, presented himself to a police station in the morning after police disclosed a security camera video to the media Friday that showed a man suspected of attempting to kill a female janitor in the same condominium building in Kawasaki City on Wednesday morning, the police said.

Imai, who lost his job last year and remains unemployed, told police he committed both acts 'because he wanted to kill' them. Imai had managed a retail curtain shop near the condominium building.

He said he 'has been depressed' since he developed a suicide wish last year, the police said.

The Kanagawa prefectural police arrested him on suspicion of assaulting the woman but plan to serve another arrest warrant on him over killing the boy, Yuki Yamakawa, 9, a resident of the building.

The police said the janitor told them Imai is the man who assaulted her.

According to investigations, on the morning of March 29, Imai jumped on the janitor in the corridor of the 15th floor of the condominium in Tama Ward, Kawasaki City, and then attempted to shove her over the railing and off the floor. The woman resisted, screaming, and he ran away.

The boy was thrown from the 15th floor early on the afternoon of March 20 and died of a ruptured heart, the investigations showed. Police have determined the boy was thrown as his fingerprints were not found on the handrail along the corridor.

The suspect was quoted as telling police, 'The 15th floor is the highest and I thought anyone who falls from here would die.'

He told police he knew neither the woman nor the boy and said, 'I have done something unpardonable. I feel so"