A MONTH ago single father Andrew Furlong was looking forward to the return of his daughter Nicola (21) from a year studying in Japan.
Today he will arrive home in Dublin with her belongings in a few plastic bags after a gruelling four days with detectives investigating her death in a Tokyo hotel.
Mr Furlong (42), who flew to Japan last Friday, said the most difficult part of the trip was visiting the college where his daughter, on a study visit from Dublin City University, had been studying business. “I touched every seat she used, I don’t know why. Going to see her room was the hardest. I was seeing her every day on Skype, and there it was.”
Police suspect Ms Furlong was strangled after attending a rap concert in Tokyo on May 23rd with an Irish friend. The suspect, a 19- year-old American man who cannot be named because he is a minor under Japanese law, is being held on sexual assault charges along with James Blackston (23), a professional dancer from Los Angeles. Both men reportedly deny the charges.
Mr Furlong’s brother-in-law Denis Corrigan, who accompanied him to the Takasaki City University of Economics on Sunday, said they found Nicola’s make-up and jewellery “exactly as she had left it before going to the concert”, along with a photograph of her father and her boyfriend on the wall.
“It was a typical girl’s little room,” said Mr Corrigan. “We took all we could in carrier bags, including two laptops, bits of jewellery, the photos” and a homemade calendar “that showed she was counting down the days until she returned home”.
“Andrew used to call her every single day on Skype and she would look up at the calendar and check when she was coming home.”
Mr Furlong last talked to his daughter the day before she took the train to Tokyo after encouraging her to attend the concert. Police and prosecutors spent days interviewing Mr Furlong about his daughter’s background and her life in Ireland and Japan.
He signed a victim’s statement, asking him to describe his emotions and recommend punishment, should the case go to trial. However he declined an offer to see the hotel room where his daughter was found unconscious in the early hours of May 24th.
“We struggled to see where she lived, let alone where she was murdered,” said Mr Corrigan. “We said, ‘No way’.”
Police inquiries into the death have focused on the younger of the two Americans, who was in the room alone with Ms Furlong when she died. The police have confirmed she was strangled, but have told her father they are still awaiting the results of toxicology reports before they can determine whether she or her friend were drugged.
The second victim of the assault has told police she remembers nothing from the period when she and Ms Furlong went to a bar with the two men until she woke up in an ambulance hours later. She has since returned home to her family in Ireland. Her mother, who came to Tokyo last week, has also given the police a statement.
Police have sequestered CCTV footage from a train station near the concert venue and tracked the four all the way from the concert to the hotel and inside the lobby and elevators. Police must decide within the next week whether to bring further charges against the men.
Mr Corrigan said he was impressed with the Japanese investigation. “The police are very thorough and there’s comfort in that. The case in Mauritius [regarding the murder of Irishwoman Michaela McAreavey] is a complete farce, so when you see it done right it is a comfort. We’re going out of here tomorrow feeling it’s been done right. I can’t praise the Japanese cops enough.”
Both men said they would be glad to return to their children in Ireland. “It’s been a very exhausting few days,” said Mr Furlong, who is also raising Nicola’s younger sister, “but it was better to have come over than not.”
