Autopsy shows there was foul play in Japanese’s death

The 76-year-old Japanese national who was found dead in his rented home in barangay Agus, Lapu-Lapu City, was strangled to death.

According to the autopsy report, there was foul play involved in the death of Takao Ukena, whose body was found on top of his bed inside his room last Tuesday.

The report said the cause of death was asphyxia by strangulation.

“Meaning ana naay nagtuok niya (It means someone choked him),” said Senior Supt. Anthony Obenza, director of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LLCPO).

The Japanese was found with an electrical cord tied around his neck. The victim also had contusions in his nose, eyelids, forearm and cuts in the forehead.

It was helper Marily Paracuelis, 25, who found the body past 7 a.m.

Paracuelis told police that the victim’s cell phone and wallet were missing, indicating that the Japanese was possibly robbed before he was killed.

Insp. Zenaido Pastrofide, homicide chief of the LLCPO, said Paracuelis and her husband Rolly, who were the first persons to discover the body, were considered suspects.

Police said the Japanese received cash allowance from a cousin in Japan every 15th and 30th of the month.

Police said Rolly has been working as a driver for 11 years with Ukena’s relative whenever he visits the country.

Whenever Ukena’s cousin sends money, it was Rolly who withdraws the money and gives it to the Japanese.

The Japanese consul Yoshiaki Hata went to the LLCPO yesterday to get an update of the case.

Ukena started renting the house for P10,000 last March./REPORTER JUCELL MARIE P. CUYOS