British man held over newborn son's death

Friday 22nd August, 06:30 AM JST

Tokyo —

A 20-year-old British man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of causing injuries resulting in the death of his newborn son, police said. The police identified the suspect as Anthony Buckley of Ome, Tokyo, who is unemployed. He has admitted to the allegation, they said, quoting him as saying he was under stress. Buckley is alleged to have violently shaken his 12-day-old son and slammed him against a table in his apartment on June 18, causing the infant to die of subdural hemorrhage at a hospital the following day.

Buckley’s Japanese wife, 19, noticed there was something wrong with her son when she returned home and took the baby to hospital, the police said. Buckley initially told investigators that the infant had slipped through his hands into the bathtub when he was washing him, but presented a document admitting the allegation on Thursday, the police said. The Briton married his wife after getting to know her via e-mail, and came to Japan in July 2007, the police said. Difficulties with childcare and the Japanese language may lie behind the incident, they said.

Kyodo

Latest 15 of 49 Total Comments Show All

WilliB at 12:12 AM JST - 23rd August

Something to be said for mandatory castration in a case like this, I´d say. Should society risk this low-life making another baby?
maryhinge at 02:45 PM JST - 23rd August

Well a few years in a Japanese nick and the swine will speak the language. I hope other Brits and others inside treat him like a 'Nonse'.
norinrad21 at 05:37 PM JST - 23rd August

sad sad story
frontandcentre at 04:33 PM JST - 25th August

Too much, too young. What a fool - now he gets to pay the price for his actions, whether the child died accidentally or not.

We can all understand the frustration - just not the way to deal with it. If he felt trapped, it was a situation that he created for himself.

I feel very sorry for his wife and her family
nidu at 05:58 PM JST - 25th August

Too young to be a father. First he needed to be settled down, learn the language ,the culture and start earning and then think about the kids.In such a situation taking out one`s frustation and depression could be a natural phenomenon, but on a 12 year old baby. Well its completely unacceptable and criminal. He should have been more responsible and patient.Should have learned to survive and cope up with the situation. What ever he did was extreme. By doing this he has ruined the rest of his life. Now, he has to pay for it. Very sad...
AllAmericanHero at 06:08 PM JST - 25th August

Isn`t this guy a minor in Japan? If so i presume he will not serve a long sentence, if he is treated as Japanese minors are.
PuffinMuffin at 06:34 PM JST - 25th August

not different from similar news in Japan, except that he's a foreigner...
kawaiitenshi at 12:38 AM JST - 26th August

don't see what age has to do with anything? I am 21, with an 8 month old baby here in Japan.It's actually a normal age where I am to have children and be married.

As for the shaking of the baby...there's people that do this all over the world, and are much older than 20. It's obvious that a lot of people forget that in the days of their grandparents and great grandparents... it was common for people to be married with children in their teens!

I do not feel sorry for this guy one bit, only for his wife and the baby which lost his life. Simple fact is that he was not able to cope.

20 yrs old or not, some people aren't up to the challenges of raising children.
HonestDictator at 10:26 AM JST - 26th August

Well a foolish man no matter what age he is. Some young adults know how things work and some have had their children at a very young age even under 18.

This guy is just a stupid idiot plain and simple. Sounds like some rose colored glasses hit him and he didn't think any further than his poking stick. Even I study Japanese even though I really don't plan on working/living there etc because I am extremely interested in Japan since I was 13 years old.

Common sense says if you plan on marrying and moving to a foriegn country, you have to learn the language so you can get by duh. Even I told my gf from Hong Kong that I didn't plan on living in HK but even so I did take the steps to learn cantonese so I could communicate with her family. She also studied english because she planned on living in the US with me.

This guy is getting the hard and fast lesson from his stupidity.
cleo at 10:33 AM JST - 26th August

Common sense says if you plan on marrying and moving to a foriegn country, you have to learn the language so you can get by duh.

Move to a place you know nothing about and don't speak the language of, at the age of 19 marry an 18-year-old you don't know and make a baby without having the financial wherewithal to raise it? Something tells me there wasn't much serious planning going on here.
seansezso at 05:26 PM JST - 26th August

Interesting timing for that admission. Was he in police custody when he made it?

I have to agree with cleo. Seems like some pretty dumb moves. Maybe they did not plan on the baby? Well, that is pretty dumb too. Pregnancy is not difficult to prevent.

And I also have to slam those who think being 20 has much to do with it. I was baby sitting and changing diapers from 11, and I am a guy. The trouble is that people these days are detatched from family life. Everybody is much to quick to blame age for, well, just about anything. Its our "modern" ways, and people are just too proud to admit it. Cultures that many of you out there think you can look down on don't have these problems like we do.
omarbabilon at 12:59 PM JST - 27th August

I would like to hit his stupid face and make him suffer, later i will say "I AM SO SORRY I WAS STRESSED". Maybe in this way this idiot will learn to be more gentle with an inocent baby. This kind of animals should not be allowed to have children.
Bilderberg666 at 01:01 PM JST - 27th August

If this guy definitly did the crime, he should be castrated, then he can ne, ver kill another innocent, to small to cry for help and fight back.

What a lowdown loser, hope he tastes some real justice.
Orangeporange at 09:08 PM JST - 27th August

This guy has other problems besides "childcare" and "language difficulties" my friends. I am sure it had something to do with knocking his penpal up to soon and being a loose cannon before he had the baby.
cwhite at 09:46 PM JST - 28th August

don't care what the age was, if your stressed out and feel like hurting the baby, GET HELP!! if the baby was crying too loud for him then that is the least of his problems, get ear plugs... and don't shake