The arrest Thursday of a 36-year-old man suspected of abducting and murdering a 7-year-old Nara girl in November has again raised questions over whether communities should be informed when anyone with a history of sex crimes is living among them.
Kaoru Kobayashi, an employee of a Mainichi Shimbun newspaper agent, was arrested in connection with the kidnapping and killing of Kaede Ariyama, an elementary school first-grader. The daily fired him following his arrest.
On Thursday night, investigative sources quoted him as confessing to both abducting and murdering the girl, and it was learned that Kobayashi had a pedophile past. He had been convicted in the past of molesting eight girls in Minoo, Osaka Prefecture, for which he received a suspended sentence.