Japanese man pushes disabled wife into sea because he got 'tired of taking care of her'

An 81-year-old Japanese man pushed his disabled wife into the sea because he was "tired of taking care of her."

The couple used to live in Oiso, Kanagawa prefecture in Japan and the man had been looking after his wife for 40 years.

The alleged incident took place on November 3. The man drove his 79-year-old wife, Teruko, to a pier in Oiso and pushed her into the water, according to a report in The Independent.

He admitted to the crime to his eldest son, who called the police to inform them of what his father had done. "My dad says he pushed mom into the sea," he told the police.

The woman's body was found floating in the sea later on the same day. She was rushed to a hospital but was declared dead. The man was arrested a day after the incident.

Such incidents are not uncommon in Japan which has an ageing population. People spend a significant amount of time looking after their elderly parents and relatives and in many cases, it has been seen that the abuser is someone close to the victim.

More than one-fourth of the country's 126 million population are 65 years of age or older. According to some reports, Japan is becoming a "super-ageing" society and it has also seen a rise in elderly abuse.

The country had reported a 2.1% increase in the number of abuse cases involving relatives of the elderly victims.

In July 2021, a 59-year-old man from Fukuoka City was arrested for killing his parents because they had been disturbing his anime sessions. "Every time my parents asked me to take care of them, I had to interrupt the anime I was watching. I couldn't stand it anymore," he had told the police then.

In another incident reported from Hyogo Prefecture in Japan, a 49-year-old man killed his 88-year-old mother at their home and later told police that he "does not remember anything."