A community is in shock after learning that a man arrested in connection with the murder of a nine-year-old Vietnamese girl in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, is the head of the parents’ association of the elementary school that the victim attended.
Yasumasa Shibuya, 46, a self-proclaimed real estate broker, was described by neighbours as a “doting father.” He was arrested Friday on suspicion of abandoning the girl’s body, but not so far for the murder itself.
Shibuya, who according to neighbours became the parents’ association head last year, lived near the home of Le Thi Nhat Linh, the third-grade junior school student whose naked body was found in a grass field in Abiko, also in Chiba, on the morning of March 26.
Shibuya would often be seen watching over the students on their way to and from school, neighbours said. They said he took turns with other parents to stand by the roadside to watch over the children.
“He had a loud voice and was cheerful. He made sure to keep an eye on the children for us. There was nothing suspect about him,” said a man in his 40s who has a child in elementary school.