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The
Department of Foreign Affairs will still not confirm whether
it was a Filipina entertainer who was murdered and chopped
into pieces in Tokyo's Roppongi district saying she has only
been reported missing.
DFA
Undersecretary for Migrant Worker's Affairs Esteban Conejos
said in a press conference that they could only say that the
victim was chopped up.
He
said the victim has not been identified and Tokyo police are
conducting DNA tests to determine if the victim was indeed
the missing Filipina.
However,
Japanese newspapers and even the Agence France-Presse said
that the victim was none other than Honiefaith Ratilla Kamiosawa,
who worked in Tokyo's Roppongi entertainment district
Mainichi
Shimbun reported that the Japanese man arrested for the murder,
48-year old Hiroshi Nozaki, was her roommate during the time
of her killing. They shared an apartment in Kawaguchi in the
Saitama Prefecture.
CHOPPED
AND WASHED
AFP
said Nozaki allegedly chopped up Ratilla's body and cleaned
the pieces in a washing machine.
Media
accounts revealed that Nozaki had served prison time for a
similar case of mutilating the body of a Filipina bar hostess
in 2000 but was set free.
Police
on Sunday arrested Nozaki on charges of destroying the body
of Ratilla.
The
private Asahi network said Nozaki cut her body into pieces
in his bathroom and "washed them elaborately in a laundry
machine" to make them lighter or to make it difficult
to trace the cause of death.
Little
blood remained in the recovered body parts, although blood
was found in the washing machine, the Asahi and other networks
said.
CAUGHT
WITH EVIDENCE
Police
declined comment on the reports. They earlier said that the
victim's co-worker, who shared an apartment with her and Nozaki,
saw him carrying a body part.
Nozaki
was taken into custody after trying to commit suicide on a
street in a Tokyo suburb by slitting his wrist.
Investigators
found a scribbled note and a key he was carrying to a baggage
locker where they found a body part.
The
victim was reportedly cut into more than 10 pieces that were
put into plastic bags inside a suitcase in a locker, but her
head had not yet been found.
In
the earlier crime in 2000, Nozaki burned the body parts and
flushed them down a toilet, the Sports Nippon tabloid said.
The
victim's cause of death was never established and he was convicted
only of charges of destroying a body. He served three-and-a-half
years in prison before being released, the newspaper said.
Roppongi
is known for its sleazy nightlife including bars with foreign
hostesses.
In
the best-known crime case in Roppongi, 21-year-old British
bar hostess Lucie Blackman vanished in 2000, with her dismembered
body recovered seven months later.
Convicted
serial rapist Joji Obara, a wealthy businessman, was acquitted
last year over Blackman's death for lack of evidence but is
back on trial in an appeal.
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