Japan man arrested for hiding dead mum’s body in flat for 10 years due to social anxiety

Police in Japan have arrested a 60-year-old man on a charge of corpse abandonment after the body of his 95-year-old mother was discovered in her flat after being left there for 10 years.

Takehisa Miyawaki told police that he knew his mother died a decade ago, but did not report it due to social phobia, according to a report on the news website mbs.jp. Miyawaki is unemployed and has no fixed home address.

(The strange and unsettling case unfolded in the Japanese city of Kobe. Photo: Shutterstock)

The case aroused police attention after a public servant in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, central Japan, found Miyawaki walking with a limp on the street on May 22.

When the government official asked him for his personal information and about his mother, Miyawaki refused to say anything about her, raising suspicion. The official then alerted the local police.Officers then went to check the home registered in the name of Miyawaki’s mother in June.

(Elderly son Takehisa Miyawaki told the police that he suffered from a “social phobia”. Photo: Shutterstock)

They saw piles of rubbish in the flat before discovering a skeleton in the property’s toilet.

Miyawaki confessed that he was aware his mother had died.

“About 10 years ago, my mother was found not breathing in the toilet.

Her body had turned cold. She did not respond to any prompting,” he told the officers.

“As an ordinary person, I knew that my mother had passed away,” he said.

Miyawaki said he did not call the police or contact a hospital, instead choosing to leave his mother’s body as it was.

“I dared not call the police because I have a social phobia,” said Miyawaki. In early July, the police in Kobe said the DNA test confirmed the body was that of Miyawaki’s mother and she must have died more than a year ago.

There was no evidence to suggest she was murdered. Police are still investigating the case.

(Instead of holding a proper funeral for his mother, Miyawaki chose to leave her corpse in the flat’s toilet. Photo: Getty Images)

The story attracted widespread attention in Japan and across Asia. “The man simply wanted to receive his mother’s pension. He used the social phobia as the pretence,” said one person.

“For so many years, why did her neighbours not find out about her death? Was there not a strong smell from her body?” another person asked.

Ref: Japan man arrested for hiding dead mum’s body in flat for 10 years due to social anxiety