A man charged in a Brazilian court for murdering his Japanese wife and their daughter in Osaka last year was driven to commit the crime because he feared divorce, Brazilian federal prosecutors said Tuesday, citing the written indictment.
The prosecutors said the 34-year-old Brazilian, Anderson Robson Barbosa, killed his wife Manami Aramaki, 29, and 3-year-old daughter Lily with a knife in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on Aug. 21, 2022. He fled to Brazil two days later.
According to the indictment, which cited information provided by Japanese police, Aramaki had wanted to divorce Barbosa for his violent behavior. He allegedly committed the murder out of concern that he would lose his visa that allowed him to keep living in Japan.
The Osaka Prefectural Police placed Barbosa on the international wanted list last September. He was arrested in July this year in an apartment in Sao Paulo, and the indictment was filed in a federal court in the southern Brazilian state of Parana on Monday.
Brazil’s Constitution prohibits its nationals from being extradited and, unlike in Japan, the death penalty does not exist in Brazil. Instead, Barbosa will face trial in a Brazilian court in response to the Japanese government’s request for punishment by proxy.