Japanese woman arrested for sewing roommate’s lip together with needle and thread
A 49-year-old woman has allegedly been taken into custody by police for sewing her roommate’s lips together.
The woman, named Masae Sakurai, was reportedly arrested on June 29th after she committed the brutal crime in Koga City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.
Media reports suggest that her roommate, who is 42 years old, escaped a day after the punishment, when Sakurai left home.
She allegedly wore a white facemask as she swiftly entered a nearby shop; with her, she brought a sign that read, “please help me,” as she couldn’t speak through the stitches. From there, the shop attendant immediately alerted local police.
“I was afraid of Sakurai, so I couldn’t escape right away,” the roommate explained, as per Japan Today.
The pair had been living together since around 2025. However, they weren’t alone at the property, as police reports suggest there were several other people in the abode at the time of the gruelling assault. They are being questioned as part of the ongoing investigation.
It has not been revealed whether Sakurai has admitted to the assault allegations, but the police are undertaking an investigation into the motive and circumstances leading up to it.
Allegedly, Sakurai, who is a part-time worker, used a needle and a thread to seal her housemate’s mouth closed at around 1:30 pm local time.
Acquaintances of the woman in custody explained to local broadcaster TV Asahi that she often let people who had left their homes stay in her house, and she usually helped them find alternate work. This could explain why several people were reportedly staying at the scene of the crime.
This isn’t the only gruelling bodily assault in the news this week; elsewhere, over in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a man allegedly cut off his own penis and used it to light a blaze inside his neighbour’s garage.