A 62-year-old man, arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after he stabbed a 34-year-old man at a train station, has told police he did it because the victim used to sit in priority seating for the elderly and disabled.

Police said the suspect, Motokazu Koizumi, a temp worker, got into an argument with the victim, who lives in Itami City, Hyogo Prefecture, while they traveled on the JR Kanjo Line last Wednesday at around 6:50 a.m. When the train stopped at Taisho Station 10 minutes later, they both got off and continued arguing on the platform, station surveillance camera footage showed.

Police said that as they were ascending the stairs toward the exit, Koizumi stabbed the victim in the stomach and then fled amid the rush hour crowd.

Fuji TV reported that Koizumi turned himself after calling police on Thursday morning. During questioning, he said there had been trouble between himself and the victim for the past two months, as they took the same train to and from work most days.

Koizumi, who was sent to prosecutors on Friday afternoon, was quoted by police as saying he got angry because the victim often sat in the priority seating and that he had reprimanded him about it during evening commutes home, but was always ignored. He said he had carried the fruit knife he used in the attack in his coat several times prior to the assault.

Meanwhile, a colleague of the victim, who is still in hospital, told police that he would come into work, saying someone kept trying to pick a fight with him on the train.

© Japan Today