The Japan Times
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Source: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070318a5.html
CHIBA (Kyodo) Police said Saturday they arrested an unmarried couple, both 24, the same day for allegedly fatally abusing the woman's 2-year-old daughter.
The girl, Misaki Otaki, died in a hospital in January and the cause of death was diagnosed as ruptured organs, police said, adding the pair admitted being abusive because the victim wouldn't behave.
Since there were several bruises on her body, police suspect she had been abused by her mother, Kana, from Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, and Yoji Yoshino, who lives with her.
Police specifically suspect the mother of injuring her daughter in the knee on a street near their apartment on Jan. 9, and suspect the boyfriend of punching the victim in her face in his car on Dec. 11.
The couple have admitted hurting the girl, claiming they did so because she was disobedient, according to the police.
On Jan. 21, the mother took her daughter to a hospital after it appeared she apparently unconscious, and the girl died there. The doctor noticed bruises on her body and alerted police.
The Japan Times
(C) All rights reserved
The Yomiuri Shimbun
March 18, 2007
Source: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070318TDY02003.htm
A 24-year-old woman and her common-law husband have been arrested on suspicion of physically abusing their 2-year-old daughter two months ago in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, police said Saturday.
According to the police, both Kana Otake and her common-law husband Yoji Yoshino, 24, beat their daughter Misaki in their apartment in mid-January. But on Jan. 21, the child fell unconscious and was taken to a hospital, where she died from ruptured internal organs.
Upon discovering suspicious marks on the child's body, hospital staff informed the police of possible child abuse. Based on internal bleeding found throughout the dead girl's body, the police suspect she may have been abused regularly.
The Chiba prefecture police's first criminal investigation division and Matsudo Police Station are questioning the two suspects and examining possible motives for the abuse.
(Mar. 18, 2007)