Masato Watabe made no effort to hide the killing. A little over an hour after he held his hand over his victim’s mouth until she was no longer breathing, he called the emergency services. Taken into custody, 79-year-old Watabe admitted to police that he alone was to blame for her death.
“I killed my mother,” police quoted Watabe as saying. “I held her mouth. I was too tired from caring for her.
“I am not feeling well myself, and I have become worried about what would happen to my mother if I were no longer able to care for her,” the Mainichi newspaper quoted Watabe as telling police.
Watabe had been living with his 100-year-old mother in a house in the western Tokyo suburb of Machida for several years before apparently reaching the end of his tether on November 25. His mother, Masako, was found on a nursing bed in their house.
The public response has been understanding, with comments on social media centred on users voicing hope they would never be in the same situation.
