While going through a divorce, an ethnic Chinese woman allegedly wrecked her ex-husband’s US$1 million violin collection.
Midori Kawamiya, an ethnic Chinese woman living in Japan, was arrested in Tokyo on Tuesday for allegedly destroying her ex-husband’s violin collection worth nearly US$1 million.
The 34-year-old woman, who sells musical instruments in Tokyo, admitted to police that she broke into the home of her former husband in Nagoya between January and February 2014 while he was away on business, news agency Kyodo reports.
However, she denied she damaged the instruments – 54 violins and 70 bows – which her ex-husband claimed were worth a total of around 105.9 million yen (RM4.06 million).
The most valuable violin destroyed was believed to have been a Nicolo Amati from Italy, worth an estimated 50 million yen (RM1.92 million), according to classical music news site The Violin Channel.
The alleged victim, 62-year-old Daniel Olsen Chen, is a Norwegian-born professional violinist who makes and repairs violins in Japan.
His website states that he has a Chinese background and has been a professional violin and bow maker since 1993.
A video, believed to be uploaded by Chen in August last year, shows police investigating what looks like a ransacked apartment, with smashed violins and other instruments, as well as belongings strewn everywhere, along with wrecked furniture and appliances.
The place looks like a typhoon has swept through it. That a lot of fury went into wrecking the apartment is evident.
The video includes a caption identifying Kawamiya by her Chinese name, Qin Yue.
The couple were going through a divorce at the time of the alleged incident and has since become final.
Japanese police said investigations were ongoing.