A 65-year-old woman was arrested earlier this week over the strangling of her long-bedridden brother, and people familiar with the case say the incident stems from a chronic shortage in nursing-care facilities for patients in need of a short-term stay.
Katsuko Ichii was arrested on suspicion that she strangled her 69-year-old brother, Sadao, with a cord in the early hours of Tuesday at the home they shared in Nagoya's Nakamura Ward.
Ichii called the ward office to say she had killed her brother, and a ward official who rushed to the house found him dead on a futon, according to local police.
"I killed my brother because I had grown tired of caring for him," police officials quoted Ichii as saying following her arrest.