Dead girl's twin sister says they were beaten and starved

Tuesday 28th April, 03:08 PM JST

OSAKA —

Police have uncovered new evidence in the case of the death of 9-year-old Tsukudanishi Elementary School student Seika Yamamoto. According to information gathered by authorities, Seika’s twin sister, with whom she had lived with until January of this year, was beaten in the head by their mother Mina, 34, and suspect Yasuhiro Kobayashi, 38, both of whom have been arrested on suspicion of abandoning a corpse.

Investigators have revealed that both Seika, her sister and mother moved in together with Kobayashi at the end of last year. The twin sister lived in the residence until Kobayashi got angry with the girl and forced her to return to her father’s house elsewhere in Nishi-Yodokawa Ward. When asked by police and school authorities about the short period she lived with Kobayashi, the girl testified that, “When we did something wrong, my mother would beat us in the head with her fist. Sometimes she wouldn’t give us any food for a day.”

News reports

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 30 Total Comments Show All

Disillusioned at 11:05 PM JST - 28th April

So, the plot thickens! They have obviously been beating both these kids for years before the kid was killed. I'm also sure it's why the sister wasn't living there. Had she have been there she may have met the same fate. What a sad bunch of people. They just be wiped from society like bugs off a windshield.

Beating a 9 year old girl is almost as cowardish as torturing little kittens in my book!

Classic!
LIBERTAS at 11:34 PM JST - 28th April

In a country with fewer and fewer children being born, and daily news of more and more children abused, sometimes killed, maybe we can conclude that Japan's adults don't deserve the gift of a child. Maybe nature is reducing the species on this archipelago for a reason.
usaexpat at 11:49 PM JST - 28th April

The boyfriend is a scum bag but the mother is a heartless whore. She brought this guy into her kids life with only regard for herself. Let's charge them both with murder instead of this stupid abandoning a corpse. They killed the girl before they abandoned the body isn't that the crime they should be charged with?
hoserfella at 12:14 AM JST - 29th April

In previous reports on the story, it is clear that neighbors clearly knew that the child was being abused and left outside crying for hours at a time-yet in typical Japanese fashion did nothing about it. Another pathetic look at the underbelly of Japanese society. In this case the scumbag mother and father-in-law, as well as the cowardly neighbors who knew exactly what was happening and did nothing about it. Human garbage all of them.
momomochi at 12:28 AM JST - 29th April

Kobayashi got angry with the girl and forced her to return to her father’s house Actually.. it says their MOTHER hit them, and they SUSPECT Kobayashi was in on it, but nothing was technically said as to if he did or not.

Either way, it is terrible. I cannot believe a mother would ever even THINK of doing such things to her daughters! I'm a twin, and I have a son. There is no way I could possibly do anything like that. It tears my heart to hear it, and it makes me so angry! I wish someone would go beat in their mother's head till she dies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Molenir at 12:56 AM JST - 29th April

Its too bad the little girl didn't misbehave the same way her sister did, and get sent to their fathers as well. Everyone would have been happier, and both girls would still be alive.

While I know it won't happen, personally, I think both the mom and the boyfriend deserve the noose.
mindovermatter at 01:10 AM JST - 29th April

likeitis

It says they both hit her. But I am still baffled as to why Mindovermatter wants to spend 10 minutes alone with Kobayashi, but not the mother.

I don't know about you, but I would never hit a woman, child or an elderly person, unless they a had a gun or weapon pointed at me.... Perhaps you would without hesitation, but that makes you no better than this scumbag who likes to beat up 9 yr olds..
Michiko3 at 02:01 AM JST - 29th April

I firmly believe all woman need psychological evaluations before they should be allowed to get pregnant. Just because you can have a child, doesn't necessarily make you a mother. And just because a man can produce a child it doesn't make him a father.
irishosaru at 07:25 AM JST - 29th April

Michiko3 - how do you plan to enforce that law and what would you do with women who become pregnant without having had the evaluation?
bdiego at 07:29 AM JST - 29th April

If you think this is just a problem in Japan, you're delusional. Countries basically choose their burden of proof, and on the other extreme you have countries like the US where children are taken from innocent parents by their own estimates in the tens of thousands at least.
Michiko3 at 10:41 AM JST - 29th April

Who said anything about enforcing a law? I simply said that, that is what I believe which in turn is merely an opinion. Let's not get ahead of ourselves shall we? And further more who said anything about the situation only being a problem in Japan? I'm sorry where exactly is that written in my comment bdiego?
dennis0bauer at 03:29 PM JST - 29th April

with people like this a declining birthrate in japan is a good thing
Midnightpromise at 11:30 PM JST - 29th April

Michiko, so if not a law, then what constitutes the "before they should be allowed to get pregnant" part?
Midnightpromise at 11:39 PM JST - 29th April

the other extreme you have countries like the US where children are taken from innocent parents by their own estimates in the tens of thousands at least.

Come on, just cite one reference please........
GW at 10:21 AM JST - 30th April

bdiego

at least the US & other countries make the effort to save kids from bad homes, in Jpn here they wait for corpses then take them from the home, understand the difference?