Asami Nagakiya Explained
Asami Nagakiya (1985–2016) was a Japanese musician, a steel pan player, who traveled regularly to Trinidad and Tobago to perform for the annual Carnival celebrations. She was found dead, in a case determined by the coroner to be murder by strangulation, on 9 February 2016, in a park that hosted Carnival activities, in the capital, Port-of-Spain.
Biography
A 30-year-old musician, a steel pan player[1] from Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, Asami Nagakiya was a regular to Trinidad's Carnival.[2] [3] [4] She also played in several carnival bands and studied music at the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music.
Death
Nagakiya was found dead in Queens Park Savannah, Port of Spain dressed in a "two-piece masquerade outfit", on Ash Wednesday morning.[2] [3] [4] The attire was further described by witnesses as being yellow, a bikini, and bejeweled in the fashion of Carnival costumes.[3] The park in the capital, Port-of-Spain, is a location that hosts "major carnival parades and events",[2] and reports varied as to the discovery of the body there (on Wednesday morning, either by "workers cleaning the park following... [the] celebrations"[2] or by bystanders that included a homeless man.[3] [4] On the next day (Thursday), the coroner’s office reported that the death had been by strangulation,[2] [4] and that the body had been "slashed on her arm".[4] No mention was made in that report regarding signs of sexual abuse.[3] [4] As of 12 February, the death was being investigated as a murder,[2] and as of that date, there were no named suspects for the crime.[4] In March 2021, Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard announced that the case had been closed, concluding that the murderer was a man named David Allen who had been killed by police in December 2016.[5]
Resignation of mayor of Port of Spain
On February 16, 2016, mayor Raymond Tim Kee of Port of Spain resigned from his office. The resignation came following outrage over controversial comments he made a week earlier, soon after Nagakiya's death. His comments referred to the responsibility of women in preventing their own abuse.[3] Kee was succeeded by deputy mayor Keron Valentine.[6]
Notes and References
- Web site: Japanese Pannist Found Dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160212100556/http://www.tv6tnt.com/home/rotator/Body-identified-Japanese-pannist-found-dead-368452111.html . dead . 2016-02-12 . TV6 .
- Web site: Reuters Kyodo Staff . 12 February 2022 . Japanese Musician Often Took Part Trinidad Carnival. JapanTimes.co.jp . 18 November 2022 . Port-of-Spain—A Japanese woman who regularly visited Trinidad for Carnival and played in a steel band has been found strangled, the coroner’s office said Thursday. / Local police said the woman was identified as Asami Nagakiya, a 30-year-old professional musician from Sapporo, Hokkaido, who entered the Caribbean country on Jan. 7. The police are investigating the case as a murder. / The body of Asami Nagakiya, still clad in a two-piece masquerade outfit, was found in Queen’s Park Savannah, a park in the capital where the major carnival parades and events are held. / Nagakiya was a regular visitor to the Trinidad and Tobago carnival. Her body was discovered by workers cleaning the park following this week’s celebrations. / A local music group... .
- News: Miller, Michael E. . 12 February 2016 . Outrage in Trinidad After Mayor Blames Carnival Killing on Dancer's 'Dewd Behavior' . . 18 November 2022 .
- Web site: Salinger, Tobias . 12 February 2016 . Carnival Killing. NYDailyNews.com . 18 November 2022 . A mayor who linked a Carnival killing in Trinidad and Tobago to the slain victim's "vulgarity and lewdness" has stoked outrage. / Port of Spain Mayor Raymond Tim Kee apologized Thursday amid calls for him to step down after his remarks on the Ash Wednesday morning discovery of the body of Japanese musician Asami Nagakiya, the Guardian of Trinidad and Tobago reported. / Kee first spoke...The flak distracted from a probe of the killing that hasn't yielded any suspects so far and the grieving by the 30-year-old's friends and bandmates. / An autopsy revealed Thursday that Nagakiya had been strangled and slashed on her arm but authorities haven't said whether there were signs of sexual abuse, CNC3 TV reported. A bystander told the Guardian he saw a homeless man screaming while pointing at bushes in Queen's Park Savannah around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. / "The guy say he see something in the bushes. I say it was a manicou or iguana but when I look I see a bikini bottom," Geoff Adams said. / .
- News: Asami Nagakiya's killer revealed: He is dead. 4 March 2023 . 19 March 2021 . Saturday Express .
- Web site: It's Valentine's day. Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. 18 February 2016 .
