A WOMAN allegedly sewed her housemate’s lips together with a needle and thread in a gruesome attack in Japan.
Masae Sakurai, 49, was arrested in the city of Koga after her alleged victim reported the sick assault to police.
Masae Sakurai, 49, was arrested after allegedly sewing her housemates lips shut Credit: tv-asahi
Sakurai and the victim were living in a house together at the time of the alleged attack, police said Credit: tv-asahi
The 42-year-old victim fled her home, where she was living with Sakurai, the day after she was disfigured and ran to a nearby shop.
Wearing a mask over her face, she passed a scrap of paper to the shopkeeper with the chilling message, “please help me” and “call the police”.
Behind the mask, the woman’s lips had been sewn shut with multiple stitches running from the bottom of her nose to her lower lip.
The thread passed through the inside of her mouth, making it difficult to see from the outside.
An employee at the shop called the cops at around 1.30pm on June 30, local media outlet NHK reported.
The victim later told police that her housemate “became angry over a trouble and my lips were sewed”.
According to the police, the victim and the suspect had lived together since April of last year.
The victim told police she lived in fear of her housemate and could not run away.
She managed to escape only when Sakurai left the house.
Authorities are investigating the incident, including the relationship between the two women.
A neighbour told TV Asahi several unnerving incidents had occurred at the property since Sakurai moved in last year.
The neighbour said: “From night until morning, there was a woman crouching there alone. I saw her for several days.”
People who knew Sakurai said she was letting people who ran away from home live with her.
A neighbour told the outlet: “There seemed to be quite a few people there.
“As people came and went, they would say how many women and how many men there were.
“There were probably 7 or 8 people. There was too much coming and going to tell.
“We don’t have any neighborly relations at all. Nobody knows what kind of work they do.”
A 49-year-old woman who used to work with Sakurai said the suspect was “taking care of girls who have nowhere to go after reaching out to their parents”.
Police are investigating unconfirmed reports of other occupants living in the house.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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