Suicidal mother arrested for trying to kill pre-school son

The Mainichi Shimbun
May 12, 2008
Source: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080512p2a00m0na009000c.html

KARATSU, Saga -- A woman who tried to kill herself and her 5-year-old son by inhaling toxic hydrogen sulfide has been arrested after the murder-suicide attempt failed, police said.

Harue Baba, 29, a restaurant worker of unknown address, was arrested for the attempted murder of her son.

Baba admits to the allegations, saying that the man she had been seeing following her husband's death had left her.

"I wanted to kill myself and my boy, but I couldn't go through with it when he started crying," she told the police.

Police said Baba decided to kill herself on Tuesday last week and took her son with her into a closet in her mother's apartment in Karatsu with the intention of inhaling lethal quantities of toxic hydrogen sulfide and killing them both.

When the gas started pouring out, Baba took her son and raced out of the closet, then called the police herself. Both were rushed to a hospital and escaped with only minor injuries. Police waited until Baba was discharged from the hospital on Sunday before they arrested her.

(Mainichi Japan) May 12, 2008

Mother arrested for attempting to kill 5-yr-old son with hydrogen sulfide gas in Saga

Japan Today
Monday 12th May, 11:18 AM JST
Source: http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/mother-arrested-for-attempting-to-kill-5-year-old-son-by-hydrogen-sulfide-gas-in-saga

SAGA — Police on Sunday arrested a 29-year-old woman for attempting to murder her 5-year-old son with hydrogen sulfide gas on May 6 in Karatsu City, Saga Prefecture. Nobody was hurt in the incident.

Harue Baba, 29, was arrested for allegedly attempting to kill her son with hydrogen sulfide gas in a closet on the second floor of her mother’s house around 12:20 p.m. after she called police saying she was going to kill her son and then herself.

According to police, Baba broke up with her boyfriend whom she had been dating since her husband died. She was quoted by police as saying, “I tried to kill my son and myself, but when he started crying, I couldn’t go through with it and took him away from the gas.”

Police said two neighboring families had to be evacuated temporarily due to the gas but nobody was hurt.