Body of DCU student due in Ireland

The body of Irishwoman Nicola Furlong will arrive back in Dublin tomorrow as Japanese police continue their investigation into her death.

Two US men are being held on suspicion of drugging and strangling the DCU exchange student in an upmarket Tokyo hotel last week.

Prosecutors are due to determine, possibly this week, whether murder charges can be brought.

Police have identified one of the men as a 23-year-old professional hip-hop dancer from Los Angeles who was on assignment in Japan. The other suspect, who is 19, cannot be named because he is considered a minor in Japan.

They have initially been charged with quasi-forcible indecency, a Japanese legal term used to describe groping and sexual assault.

Tokyo police say they suspect Ms Furlong and her friend were plied with alcohol or drugs before being raped.

Police may re-arrest the men on more serious charges once they receive full autopsy and toxicology reports.

“The injuries to Ms Furlong’s neck suggest suffocation through pressure on the neck, or strangulation,” said a police spokesperson.

A family member of the second unnamed Irish woman is in Tokyo to accompany her back to Ireland for Ms Furlong’s funeral in the small community of Curracloe. Co Wexford where she grew up.

Family and friends of both have appealed for privacy amid intense media interest. Ms. Furlong’s death has been widely covered in the Japanese media and by the main US TV networks.