Two men arrested on suspicion of murdering a homeless man in a Tokyo park last month are also suspected of attacking a 47-year-old company employee in June, investigators said Friday.
The suspects -- 20-year-old Naoto Yoshida and a 19-year-old part-time high school student -- were arrested for allegedly kicking the head and abdomen of a man who was sleeping on some cardboard at a park in Sumida Ward in the early hours of July 13. The youth cannot be identified because he is a minor.
The pair were later quoted by police as saying they had acted to relieve stress. They also reportedly said they had killed another man in June, adding that they repeated the crime because they had not been caught the first time.
Later investigations showed the company employee in question, who had been drunk and resting at another park in Sumida Ward in June, had been attacked and left paralyzed on his left side.