Brazil Police Arrest Suspect in Murder of Wife, Child in Japan

Jiji Press

16:38 JST, July 15, 2023

SAO PAULO (Jiji Press) — Brazilian federal police said Friday that they have arrested a 34-year-old man suspected of killing his wife and their daughter in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, last August.

The Brazilian man, Anderson Robson Barbosa, had been placed on the international wanted list for allegedly killing the 29-year-old wife, Manami Aramaki, and the 3-year-old daughter at an apartment in the Osaka city of Sakai.

The suspect was apprehended in Sao Paulo on Friday afternoon. Police said that he was located and arrested through international cooperation with Japanese police.

Barbosa is suspected of murdering Aramaki and the daughter sometime between the afternoon of Aug. 20 and morning of Aug. 21. Japanese police found the two victims lying face up in an apartment room on Aug. 24. The victims had over 10 stab wounds each, and a knife with blood on it was left nearby.

Barbosa fled to Brazil via Narita airport near Tokyo, after calling his employer to take time off due to what he explained as a broken bone. He had been thought to have been hiding near his hometown of Londrina in the southern Brazilian state of Parana.

The suspect told a lawyer prior to his arrest that he left Japan because he was scared after finding his wife and daughter dead when he came home from work, according to local media.

Meanwhile, he told friends that he killed Aramaki out of anger after she killed the daughter during a quarrel over breaking up, local media said.

Osaka prefectural police placed Barbosa on the international wanted list last September. The Japanese police asked Brazilian police for cooperation in November.

After his arrest, Barbosa was transported to Curitiba, the state capital of Parana.

Brazil prohibits extraditions of its nationals in principle, so it is unlikely that Barbosa will be handed over to Japan. He is expected to face trial in Brazil, based on Japan’s request for punishment by proxy.