Blaming the victim?

A friend of Lindsay Hawker, the young British teacher murdered in Chiba in March, has posted a comment on one of my posts on the subject. She is enraged by some of the observations by earlier commenters. Her remarks speak for themselves and I think that they are worth drawing attention to in a new post.

Read on for the email which the Hawker family are urging well wishers to circulate in hopes of finding Tatsuya Ichihashi, the only suspect in the case, in whose apartment Lindsay's body was found. (He is pictured above in CCTV images from the lift in his  building.)

The comment is signed "an old friend".

To be honest after reading all of these comments it suprises me that someone who actually know's lindsay hasn't been able to bite their lip and posted a comment yet.

I have sat and read all of them and i could not contain myself.

I have known lindsay since she was 8 years old, i went all through school with her as a close friend and our dads also grew up together and still remain good friends, after speaking to bill since this awful tragedy and seeing how this has affected him and his family it would horrify me to think he would read some of these.

By the looks of it, not 1 single person knew lindsay and yet most of you seem so keen to discuss her simple error of judgement as if she was stupid and she should of known that this monster was out to do the eventual things that he did! Anybody who knew lindsay knows that all she ever wanted to do was help people and at the end of the day thats what she thought she was doing over there, she was there for that reason and that reason only. Lindsay was a human being and a lovely one at that and she, like any other person deserves to be left to rest.

If there is anyone who you should all be talking about it is "Ichihashi", about him and what a vile creature he is, not how Lindsay made an error in judgement, when it comes down to it everybody lets their guard down, she was never to know it was her time to keep it up.

Sally Brown, DO YOU GET IT??

miss you lindsay, always in our memories.. class of '95' xxxx   

The following email has been sent out by the Hawkers, with the request that it be disseminated as widely as possible:

DON'T FORGET LINDSAY HAWKER

We need your help to catch her killer -please take a few minutes to read this email and then pass it onto as many people as possible.

Lindsay Hawker was a fun-loving, carefree woman, who was an important member of a loving family when she was brutally murdered in March this year. A teaching post at the Koiwa International Language School run by the Nova organisation brought her to Tokyo.

The beautiful 22-year-old had her whole life in front of her and she had recalled in phone calls home of her fondness for Japan and the good time she was having.

But when Lindsay failed to answer her family's calls or return home to her Tokyo flat they realised something was wrong and alerted police.

Lindsay's badly beaten body was discovered at the apartment of Tatsuya Ichihashi, a Japanese man that she may have been giving English lessons to at the end of March.

She was discovered buried in a bath of sand on the balcony of the apartment in Ichikawa, Chiba, an area of Tokyo .but despite the presence of nine police officers Ichihashi was able to escape and is now on the run.

Lindsay's family are heartbroken by her brutal death and above all they want justice for Lindsay, who didn't deserve to die in this way, her death has left a gaping hole in the Hawker family and in the life of her beloved boyfriend Ryan Garside.

Ichihashi , the only suspect in the case, has not been seen since he escaped from police and despite 'Wanted' posters appearing across Tokyo he has not yet been caught.

It is now four months since Lindsay was murdered and Lindsay's family would like to appeal to you to look at his picture on the bottom of this email and if you see this man at all please report it to the police or ring the information hotline on 0081 473970110 or email the Lindsay Hawker website (www.lindsayannhawker.com) - please do not turn a blind eye , check outhouses or new arrivals in your neighbourhood - please for the sake of Lindsay help the Hawker family to get justice. They believe they can catch this man with your help so please act now to do what you can to help. If Lindsay's story has touched you please do what you can to help and pass this on to as many people as possible.

Comments

[John Gregory Flinn]

I remember your weblog, but felt at the time it's title 'The Safety Trap' could be ambiguous.

We offer our humble sympathy to Lindsay's Family and friends.
Having a daughter of a similar age who wants to travel abroad with similar ambitions to Lindsay we know that she could not be blamed.

The suspect may have gone to Korea. Many Japanese hide in Korea for varying reasons as the Koreans do in Japan. Its just a thought.

[Ray]

I live both in Japan and China, run several businesses in both places and have numerous acquaintances that I will pass this information onto. With God's help we can all contribute an effort to find this person.

Lindsay was the victim here. It's not more complicated than that and to blame her for anything whatsoever is ludicrous and crass.

My sympathy and prayers are with this family. I know it's a loss that will never be replaced.

[Ahmed]

Yes, this Ishihashi is a vile person. I Hope that whoever catches him does what he did to this girl.
And that is the least he deserves.