Mother Of Shinzo Abe Murder Suspect Donated S$1M To Unification Church, Leaving Family In Poverty

Man Arrested For Shinzo Abe’s Murder Bore Resentment Towards Him Due To Unification Church

As the world mourned the death of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, more details emerged about the man allegedly behind his murder.

41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami was arrested on suspicion of Mr Abe’s murder with a homemade gun and has been in remand since.

According to The Asahi Shimbun, in early July, Yamagami planned to murder Abe, and then take his own life.

After quitting his last job as a forklift operator in Osaka Prefecture in May, he had run out of money and thought his days were numbered.

Murder suspect left job in May after work troubles

According to the factory chief at the factory Yamagami worked, the man was “quiet and kept to himself” but started to ignore rules at the workplace after six months.

He began snapping at co-workers after they pointed out his work habits and then started missing work without permission.

Eventually, he quit the job in May, saying he was “feeling unwell”, Japan Times reported.

His erratic behaviour then continued after that. According to a next-door neighbour of Yamagami, he would hear a sound that resembled a tree sawing at night starting in June.

It’s suspected that Yamagami was building his homemade guns in his home during that period, and police seized at least five firearms following his arrest, according to The Asahi Shimbun.

Mother went bankrupt making donations to Unification Church

Yamagami’s history is fraught with poverty and tragedy.

His father, an executive of a construction company in Nara, took his own life when he was young. Yamagami’s brother also became blind in his right eye due to cancer, and his mother turned to religion due to these events, according to Mainichi Japan.

Yamagami’s 77-year-old uncle said on 15 Jul that she donated a total of S$1.01 million (100 million yen) to the Unification Church, eventually declaring herself bankrupt in 2002.

This left the family in poverty, and Yamagami’s uncle had to support them financially while she continued her donations and activities with the Unification Church.

Yamagami, described as a “brilliant” student, entered an elite high school but could not afford to go to college.

When he was 24, he decided to take his own life to “save his brother and sister” from poverty.

Tragically, his brother took his own life in 2015.

Drifted between jobs

In 2002, he joined the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) but left after three years.

His uncle said Yamagami was not cut out for life with the MSDF.

Yamagami could not hold on to a job for long after that, though he managed to stay in one for five years. Usually, however, he’d remain for just a year before moving on.

At some point, he harboured negative feelings towards the Unification Church as he believed it had brought about his family’s dysfunction. His mother allegedly left Japan to live in South Korea as part of her church activities, and never returned.

Eventually, after leaving his last job in May, he plotted to end things by killing Mr Abe, who he felt was linked to the church, before ending his own life.

Yamagami was arrested shortly after shooting Mr Abe and sent to prosecutors.

Murder not justified

Unfortunately, a life was needlessly lost on 8 Jul.

While the suspect’s story is one of tragedy, it does not justify the murder of anyone, let alone someone who was not officially part of the religious organisation that bore the man’s wrath.

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Featured image adapted from Japan Times.