A vehicle carrying suspect Kyohei Morimoto to send him to prosecutors is seen in this image taken in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, on Oct. 18, 2021. (Mainichi/Kenji Kimura)

       KOBE -- A 33-year-old man who was arrested for allegedly stabbing his ex-wife to death at a condominium in western Japan has said he had "issues" with the victim, a source close to the investigation has told the Mainichi Shimbun.

       Kyohei Morimoto, 33, an office worker living in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, and ex-husband of the victim, was arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the stabbing death of a female resident of the condominium in the Hyogo prefectural city of Amagasaki.

       At around 8:20 p.m. on Oct. 15, the suspect allegedly stabbed his 28-year-old ex-wife Sayaka in the back with a sharp object, and murdered her. He was arrested the following night.

       Hyogo Prefectural Police referred the suspect to the Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office's Amagasaki branch on Oct. 18. Law enforcers are set to investigate the specific motives, while deeming that he had strong intent to kill. The suspect was quoted as telling police that he had stabbed the victim "with the intention to kill her."

       It is thought that the suspect ambushed the victim when returned home, and a sharp object with bloodstains was found in his residence. The cause of the victim's death was loss of blood. Wounds were seen in over 10 places on the woman's body, and some of them had penetrated her lungs from the back. Prefectural police are looking into the events leading to the suspect and victim's divorce, and details of the conflict between the two, among other factors. Investigators suspect the attack was premeditated.

       (Japanese original by Kwanghoon Han, Kobe Bureau, and Kiyomasa Nakamura, Hanshin Bureau)

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