Hyogo care home staff member arrested for assaulting resident with intellectual disabilities

By Barrier Free Japan with extracts from Yahoo! Japan via The Kobe Shimbun

February 16 2022

HYOGO – The Sumoto Police Department arrested a 50-year-old employee of the Goshiki Seikouen welfare facility in Sumoto City, Hyogo Prefecture on suspicion of assaulting a resident with intellectual disabilities.

The suspect was arrested on suspicion of hitting a man in his 40s in the face with the back of his right hand between 5.21pm and 5.23pm on January 12th, causing his right eye to swell up and bleed under the conjunctiva, a minor injury that lasted about a week.

An official of the facility noticed something wrong with the man’s eye and consulted the police. A security camera captured the beating, the police said. When the police investigated, the man denied the charges, saying he did not remember the incident.

Toshiyuki Fukaya, 62, the director of Goshiki Seikouen, told reporters, “This is an act that should not be done as a professional, and it undermines the trust of the users and their families. I’m sorry.”