Father demands murder charge after jumper kills Nagoya woman, 23, on busy sidewalk

AICHI (TR) – The grieving father of a 23-year-old woman killed when a man jumped from a 12-story apartment building and landed on her has marched into the Nagoya District Public Prosecutors Office to demand that the suspect face murder charges, not merely gross negligence, reports TBS News (Oct. 29).

Tomoki Inaba was walking along a sidewalk in the Sakae district of Nagoya’s Naka Ward one night in July, returning home with a friend, when Nobunari Taguchi, 29, plummeted from the building above her and struck her. She died at the scene. The area is described as busy with foot traffic even late at night.

Taguchi, who is believed to have been attempting suicide, was initially unconscious but later recovered. He was arrested in August on suspicion of gross negligence resulting in death, police said.

Kenji Inaba on Wednesday formally told prosecutors that his daughter was murdered by a suicidal jumper in Nagoya earlier this year (X)

Her father, Kenji Inaba, is having none of it. On October 28 he submitted a written opinion to the Nagoya District Public Prosecutors Office arguing that the charge should be murder, on the basis of what lawyers call “dolus eventualis,” or contingent intent: the idea that Taguchi knew someone below could die and jumped anyway.

“What I want most is to clear my daughter’s name,” Inaba said. “The simple fact is that she had a perfectly happy day, and it was suddenly taken from her.”

The father says the case for murder rests on a chilling exchange. During a jail visit, Inaba told the network, he put the question directly to Taguchi: did he jump regardless of whether anyone was below, not caring if they lived or died? “His answer was an affirmative, ‘Yes, that’s right,'” the father said. “To me, that is a statement that points to contingent intent, not mere negligence.” Taguchi, however, has told police he does not remember, according to the report.

Inaba launched an online petition on September 21 calling for a murder charge. It surpassed 47,000 signatures within roughly one month. On October 28 he delivered both the petition and his formal written opinion to prosecutors.

The family’s central anguish is that Tomoki’s death risks being written off as an unfortunate accident. In the months since July, the father has returned to the scene five times, including at the same late-night hour the tragedy occurred, counting pedestrians himself to document how busy the street was. He has also met with Taguchi three times.

The case is not without precedent. In October 2020, a male high school student jumped from the roof of a commercial building in Umeda, Osaka City, killing a female university student on the street below.

In August 2024, a female high school student jumped from a commercial building in Yokohama City, killing a 32-year-old woman passing by. In both cases the jumpers died, and both were referred to prosecutors posthumously on suspicion of gross negligence resulting in death, not murder.

“There is no greater injustice”

Legal commentators note that proving contingent intent in such cases faces a high bar: prosecutors must establish beyond doubt that the jumper consciously accepted the possibility of killing someone below.

The Nagoya District Public Prosecutors Office has ordered a psychiatric evaluation of Taguchi to assess his criminal responsibility. That process is scheduled to conclude by January 13, 2027.

“Someone who wanted to live died, and someone who wanted to die lived,” Inaba said. “There is no greater injustice than that. I still cannot accept it. Every day I hope it will turn out to be a lie.”

Published in Crime , Nagoya and News

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爱知县（TR）——据TBS新闻（10月29日）报道，一名23岁女子被一名男子从12层公寓楼跳下砸死，悲痛欲绝的父亲前往名古屋地方检察厅，要求对嫌疑人提起谋杀指控，而不仅仅是过失杀人罪。

7月的一个夜晚，稻叶智树和朋友在名古屋市中区荣街的人行道上散步回家时，29岁的田口信成从她头顶的楼上坠落，砸中了她。她当场死亡。据悉，该地区即使在深夜也人来人往。

据信当时意图自杀的田口最初处于昏迷状态，但后来恢复了意识。警方称，他于8月因涉嫌过失致人死亡而被捕。

稻叶健二周三正式向检察官表示，他的女儿今年早些时候在名古屋被一名跳楼自杀者杀害（X）。

她的父亲稻叶健二对此完全不认同。10月28日，他向名古屋地方检察厅提交了一份书面意见，认为应该以谋杀罪起诉，理由是律师所说的“间接故意”（dolus eventualis），即田口明知下面有人可能会死，却仍然跳了下去。

“我最想做的就是还女儿清白，”稻叶说。“事实很简单，她原本度过了非常快乐的一天，却突然被夺走了。”

父亲表示，这起谋杀案的关键在于一段令人不寒而栗的对话。稻叶告诉媒体，在一次监狱探访中，他直接问田口：他是否不顾下方是否有人，毫不在乎他们的生死而跳了下去？“他的回答是肯定的，‘是的，没错，’”父亲说。“在我看来，这表明他有蓄意谋杀的意图，而不仅仅是疏忽大意。” 然而，据报道，田口告诉警方他不记得了。

9月21日，稻叶发起了一项网上请愿，要求以谋杀罪起诉。该请愿在一个月左右的时间内就获得了超过47000个签名。10月28日，他将请愿书和正式的书面意见递交给了检察官。

家人最痛心的是，友树的死很可能被简单地归咎于一场不幸的意外。自七月以来，友树的父亲五次重返事发地点，其中一次是在悲剧发生的深夜，他亲自数着行人，记录着当时街道的繁忙程度。他还与田口先生会面了三次。

这起案件并非史无前例。2020年10月，一名高中男生从大阪市梅田区一栋商业大楼的楼顶跳下，导致楼下街道上的一名女大学生死亡。

2024年8月，一名高中女生从横滨市一栋商业大楼跳下，导致一名路过的32岁女子死亡。两起跳楼事件中，跳楼者均已死亡，且均因涉嫌过失致人死亡而非谋杀而被追究检察官责任。

“没有比这更大的不公了”

法律评论员指出，在此类案件中证明附带意图面临很高的门槛：检察官必须毫无疑问地证明跳楼者有意识地接受了可能杀死下方人员的风险。

名古屋地方检察厅已下令对田口进行精神鉴定，以确定其刑事责任能力。该鉴定程序预计将于2027年1月13日完成。

“想活的人死了，想死的人活了下来，”稻叶说道。“没有比这更大的不公了。我至今仍无法接受。我每天都希望这一切都是个谎言。”

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