Stray cat implicated in the attempted murder of 82-year-old woman

Mayuko Matsumoto’s daughter found her bleeding profusely from about 20 cuts to her face last Monday at her home in a mountainous region of southern Japan; leading police to launch an attempted murder investigation. Some of the wounds were believed to be relatively severe, according to local broadcaster RKK.

“When we found her, blood covered everything above her chin. Her face was soaked in blood. I didn’t know what had happened,” Matsumoto’s daughter told RKK. The victim who is 82 was reportedly unable to speak and had to receive emergency care.”

There was no sign of people leaving or entering the property at time of the suspected attack. Investigators soon realised that the  wounds looked like cat scratches and subsequently turned their attention to the stray cats loitering around Matsumoto’s house. They found traces of what may be human blood on one of them, the Nishinippon Shimbun newspaper said Friday.

“Police are analysing a blood sample taken from the claw of the cat which might have scratched the victim,” according to the national broadcaster NHK. A police spokesman declined to directly comment on the case on Friday, but told AFP that investigators were not disputing the media reports.

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