Japanese student who stabbed schoolmate held grudge against victim

Tokyo, Nov 25 A junior high school boy, who fatally stabbed a fellow student in central Japan, said he had problems with the victim and held a grudge against him, local media reported on Thursday.

The alleged attacker, whose name has been withheld as he is a minor, told investigators that he bought a 20 centimetre-long kitchen knife online, which he is believed to have used to stab Yuzuki Ito in the stomach on Wednesday.

The victim, also a 14-year-old boy, who was in the third grade of Jyushiyama junior high school in Yatomi city, Aichi Prefecture, was confirmed dead later in the day at a hospital due to haemorrhagic shock, Xinhua news agency reported.

No injuries were reported among other students and teachers.

The suspect, who has admitted to stabbing Ito, was arrested by the police on Wednesday and was sent to prosecutors on Thursday.

The stabbing took place from the front in a hallway outside a classroom at around 8 a.m. local time on Wednesday when other students were arriving.

The two students were neither in the same third-year class nor in the same extracurricular clubs at the school. However, they were in the same class during their second year.

The father of the suspect told local media "There is no information and I am confused. I cannot say anything."

The municipal board of education said on Wednesday that there was no mention of the two boys in its questionnaire survey last month on bullying, and it did not know if there was any trouble between the two.

A father of a 15-year-old female student, who is also in the third grade, said he felt worried about the mental health of students who witnessed the incident.