A 20-year-old unemployed man who has been arrested on suspicion of murder after stabbing a man in the neck at an apartment in Tokyo claimed to have been beaten daily because of his failure to pay off debts he owed to the victim, police said.

According to police, Daiki Kawakami, a resident of Katsushika Ward, is accused of fatally stabbing a man in his 20s at the victim’s apartment in Machida on Monday. He was quoted by police as saying “he had no choice but to kill the victim because he was being assaulted daily.”

The two men, who had been at the victim's apartment since Saturday, were preparing to launch a business together. Several other men were at the apartment on Monday but after they left, Kawakami reportedly stabbed the man in the neck. At 5:45 p.m., Kawakami called 110 and said he had killed an acquaintance. The victim was taken to hospital where he died about two hours later.

Kawakami was initially charged with attempted murder but the charge was upgraded to murder on Monday night.

© Japan Today