余録：殺意の闇

(Mainichi Japan) November 26, 2008

Dark murderous intent can not go unexplained

余録：殺意の闇

When the Athenian statesman Alcibiades was young, he was accused of cutting off his dog's tail. His acquaintances expressed their outrage at him, and told him that all Athens was sorry for the dog. He said, "Just what I wanted has happened then. I wished the Athenians to talk about this, that they might not say something worse of me."

　アテネの政治家アルキビアデスが若いころ、飼い犬の尾を切り落として市民の非難を浴びた。親友が「みんな犬のことでお前に毒づいているぞ」というと、彼は言った。「おれの思うツボよ。おかげでおれのもっとひどい悪事は語らないでいてくれる」

This anecdote from Plutarch's "Parallel Lives" leaves us to infer that the murder of an ex-administrative vice health minister and his wife and a knife attack on the wife of another former vice minister because "a local public health center killed a pet" more than 30 years ago was to distract us from "something worse."

▲「プルタルコス英雄伝」（ちくま学芸文庫）にある逸話だが、ペットが悪事の目くらましに使われることもある。だから３０年以上前に「ペットを保健所に殺された」というのが元厚生事務次官やその家人を殺傷した動機だったと聞かされれば、何かの目くらましかと疑いたくなる

The baffling statement Takeshi Koizumi gave to police when he turned himself in for "murdering the ex-vice health minister," must have made a creepy impression on many people. Police are poised to slap Koizumi with a new arrest warrant for murdering the ex-vice health minister and his wife in Saitama.

▲「元次官を殺した」と警察に出頭した小泉毅容疑者の不可解な供述に、何かのどを通らぬ異様な食べ物を口にしたような気味悪さを感じた方も多いだろう。捜査本部はさいたま市の元次官夫妻殺害の容疑で小泉容疑者を再逮捕するという

Elaborate preliminary planning, skillful disguise as a delivery serviceman, and cold murder without hesitation are the most heinous features of this crime. However, his disposition directly connecting the loss of his childhood pet to the ministry and its high-ranking officials that govern the health center was even more outrageous. The motives and his public perception are hideous.

▲綿密に事前調査し、宅配便を巧みに偽装し、ためらいなく凶行に及んだ周到さと冷酷が事件の最も憎むべき特徴だ。だが一方、子供時代のペット喪失や、保健所業務を旧厚生省高官と直結する社会認識など、供述される動機は常軌を逸している。何とも奇怪な両者の取り合わせだ

Koizumi revealed, "I learned in university that all high-ranking bureaucrats are evil," as if he had had some bitter experience during his school days. Though we can attribute everything to his singular personality, the age-old pet incident or university experience may be a mask for something at "present."

▲容疑者は「大学で高級官僚は悪と知った」と、学生時代に事件の根があるかのような話もしている。すべては特異な性格に帰することもできようが、古い過去のペットや大学を「現在」の何かを隠す目くらましにしていると思えぬこともない

At the very least, an investigation of Koizumi's behavior and daily life, along with the background of the incident, are required. The incident is too startling and alarming to allow the "dark murderous intent" to be left unexplained. ("Yoroku," a front-page column in the Mainichi Shimbun)

▲ともあれ捜査当局は容疑者の行動・生活実態を洗い、事件の背景を余すところなく解明してほしい。「殺意の闇」をそのままにしておけば、今後に残す不安が大きすぎる連続襲撃事件だ。

毎日新聞　2008年11月25日　0時04分