Public prosecutors have arrested a Kyoto psychiatrist on suspicion of leaking secret investigative materials to a journalist on a 17-year-old boy who was tried in family court in connection with a fire that killed his stepmother and two siblings. The freelance journalist later published a book using the materials.
The manner in which the book was written made it was easy for investigators to determine who the source was. Although the journalist should consider her actions, it would not be far-fetched to expect the arrest to have an intimidating effect on journalists and people ready to offer information to them.
Early on June 20, 2006, the two-story home of the boy in Tawaramoto, Nara Prefecture, burned down. The bodies of his 38-year-old stepmother, 7-year-old half brother and 5-year-old half sister, were found in the debris. The boy, a first-year senior high school student, was soon reported missing. At the time of the fire, the boy's father, a medical doctor, was not at home.