On the night of July 19, 2026, 23-year-old Hora Inaba was walking with a friend along a busy street in Nagoya’s Sakae district after dinner when a suicidal man jumped from the 11th-floor balcony of an apartment building and struck her. The impact caused fatal blood loss. The man was arrested on suspicion of causing death through gross negligence. Inaba’s family, however, argues that the case warrants a more serious charge: murder based on dolus eventualis, or the acceptance of the possibility that one’s actions could cause another person’s death.
In a petition, Inaba’s family urges prosecutors to pursue a murder charge and thoroughly investigate whether the suspect accepted the risk of killing someone when he jumped. They argue that the circumstances, including the busy pedestrian area and clear visibility from the balcony, should help establish what he knew about the danger. The family also calls for investigators to examine the objective evidence rather than allowing the suspect’s reported claim that he does not remember the incident to leave unanswered questions about his awareness of the risks.
Petition Cites Suspect’s Alleged Admissions
“Even if the suspect jumped with the intention of taking his own life, he should have understood that jumping from a high-rise building in a busy entertainment district could result in him striking and killing someone below,” the petition states. “Such conduct, which puts innocent third parties at risk, must not be allowed to go unchallenged. We earnestly hope that the justice system will confront the gravity of a human life and ensure that our daughter’s death is not dismissed as merely an ‘unfortunate accident.’”
According to the petition, the suspect made a series of admissions during three meetings with Inaba’s family. When asked whether he jumped regardless of whether people below might be injured or killed, he replied, “Yes, that’s right.” He also acknowledged that the possibility of hitting someone and causing serious harm had crossed his mind, but that his desire to die had taken precedence. When Inaba’s family urged him to remember that their daughter and her friend had been visible below, he responded, “Yes, I believe I saw them.”
Legal Hurdles to Murder Charge in Nagoya Fall
The family’s campaign has drawn significant public support, with an online petition demanding a murder charge surpassing 46,000 signatures by October 13. However, securing a conviction for murder based on dolus eventualis could prove difficult. Lawyer Yasuo Sawai cautioned that establishing intent in such cases presents a significant legal hurdle. “When jumping from the 11th floor, it is entirely unpredictable whether you will actually hit a pedestrian below,” he said. “Objectively proving this constitutes an act of murder is not easy.”
