Man sets fire to house because wife didn't see him off properly

A lieutenant in the Maritime Self-Defense Force, who has been arrested for setting fire to his home in Kitsuki, Oita Prefecture, told police he got angry at his wife because she didn’t properly see him off as he was leaving to go back to Hiroshima where he is stationed.

Kenichiro Suemune, 40, has been charged with arson after setting fire to his home last Sunday night. Four of his eight children died in the fire, while he, his 42-year-old wife, and three other children escaped with minor injuries. The couple’s oldest son was staying with relatives at the time.

Flames were seen coming from the two-story wooden house at around midnight Sunday. It took firefighters about 100 minutes to extinguish the blaze which destroyed the 125-square-meter house. Police said the four bodies found on the ground floor were those of the couple’s oldest daughter Yukari, 14, their second oldest daughter Mayumi, 7, their fourth oldest son Masahiro, 9, and their fifth oldest son Shigeru, 5.

Suemune had returned home on Friday night and was supposed to go back to Hiroshima on Sunday night. Fuji TV reported that he told police he got into an argument with his wife because she hardly said anything to him as he was about to leave. He said he got mad and poured kerosene and some oil on the floor and ignited it.

“I wanted her to show some concern for me,” he was quoted by police as saying.

His wife told police she saw her husband pouring kerosene everywhere and then use a lighter to start the blaze. Police said multiple plastic containers were found on the premises.

Shortly before the fire broke out, a neighbor said he heard voices shouting at each other. After the fire started, the neighbor said he saw Suemune on the roof, urging one of his children to jump, Fuji reported.

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