crime

Parents arrested over death of 3-month-old daughter

46 Comments

A 25-year-old man and his 22-year-old wife have been arrested in Kadoma, Osaka, over the death of their 3-month-old daughter, police said Wednesday. The pair, who have been named as Fumiya Fujiyama and his wife Yui, are being investigated for manslaughter after allegedly causing the death of their baby daughter Ryuna in May. The pair are believed to have hit and violently shaken the newborn.

According to Fuji TV, Ryuna was taken to hospital by her parents on May 13, but doctors say she was already dead on arrival. Hospital staff then found dozens of bruises on the infant's body and head that indicated she had been hit or punched. When questioned, the girl's parents said she had fallen off of a chair and gave other explanations that failed to explain her injuries. The hospital contacted the police, who initiated an investigation, Fuji reported. Police believe the child had been mistreated regularly since her birth.

So far, both parents have denied punching and shaking their baby, and said she got the bruises from her older sister. Police investigations are ongoing.

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46 Comments
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Sicko people. Why have a child if you are going to kill it. Probably bad brain trauma from violent shaking. May the little one RIP and my the parents burn in hell.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Poor girl. An absolutely awful story. The constant crying of an infant can be very tough for parents, I know, but it is to be expected and should never result in this. These are "monster parents".

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Oh god I actually feel sick when I see headlines like this. Poor poor little girl. 3 months on this earth and all of it a living hell. If these a-hole parents cant cope why the hell dont they just hand the baby over to the authorities or get some kind of help. Its almost like they conceived her solely for the purpose of abuse.

And she has an older sister? God I hope she is in protection now.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I wonder if the older daughter denies hurting the baby she fears her parents will beat her.

These stories make me sick!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

MONSTERS!!!! Lock them up and throw away the key. Let em rot in solitary confinement. Case closed.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I agree NetNinja. Nothing more to be said. These people do not deserve to live in normal society. There are no excuses. Period.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Lucky little baby the suffering has ended now, imagine how much she would have suffered if she had continued living, probably years and years of abuse. RIP.

Now for the parents turn to suffer and for longer than 3 short months you low life scum b stards

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Monsters or just plain ignorant people at the end of their stupid rope?

If a baby is crying, something is wrong. My in-laws say crying is a baby's job, and while that is a sign of a healthy attitude for parents, I don't agree. A baby should not be crying too much, and if a baby is crying generally YOU are doing something wrong. The baby could be too hot, too cold, in an uncomfortable position, hungry, sick, malnourished, needing a diaper changed, sleepy but can't get to sleep, wanting to be held, wanting breast-fed, etc. etc. You find the problem and a solution the baby stops crying generally.

I am lucky and my wife takes care of most things. I fill in the blanks. One thing I found is that a baby needs is stimulation of all kinds, tactical, visual, tonal, etc., and the main one I provide is singing. Just singing so often calms a baby down. I doubt these people were told anything and they probably don't have the brains to figure it all out either. But heck, even I have been at the end of my rope, but I hit the table, not the baby, NEVER the baby. It was never his fault. It was always mine.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Japan Girl took the words right out of my mouth! RIP little 3 month old baby girl and yes, these horrible stupid idiot so called parents BURN IN HELL!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

another day, another child murdered by their parents.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

I am a big nature watcher, love watching and studying animals' behavior on spot or on video movies.

I have never seen anything like this, even the most ferocious animals on world like the martial eagle, but even reptiles take care of their descendants and feed them with with more tenderness and commitment than some, sadly growing number, of parents.

I am afraid if we started digging into this matter deeply, the result would be more startling than what we normally say, "wow, bad parenting".

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

If a baby is crying, something is wrong. My in-laws say crying is a baby's job, and while that is a sign of a healthy attitude for parents, I don't agree. A baby should not be crying too much, and if a baby is crying generally YOU are doing something wrong.

Generally I'd agree, but a baby not crying can be a sign of distress, too. When my son was a year old he got an ear infection that knocked him for six; I cannot tell you how relieved we all were when he was well enough to yell again!

I have never seen anything like this, even the most ferocious animals on world like the martial eagle, but even reptiles take care of their descendants

You need to watch the natural world a bit more closely. The most ferocious parents are often the most considerate and protective towards their offspring. Compare that to the pretty, innocuous little guppy, one of several species of fish that happily eats its own young; pigs, cats and rodents are also known to eat their own young. As a child I kept pet mice and on more than one occasion found that a whole litter had been eaten by the parents.

Not that any of that excuses what happened to this poor little girl. Three months old. Hell.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Stay on topic please.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Cleo, mice?? Not too sure if this is the best example between idiot parents down in Osaka, but maybe, just maybe there is some kind of DNA link between idiots down in Osaka killing there own kids,but I digress, something is very, very wrong with this Japanese society. Why would anybody kill there own baby?? Were these 2 fools drunk?? Or drunk and on drugs?? WTF we they thinking?? OH, maybe they were not thinking?? Too bad! I hope these 2 idiots spend a long, long time BEHIND BARS and maybe, just maybe they can sober up and start to THINK, and maybe even begin to feel some REMORSE for the evil sins of killing an innocent baby!

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

AGAIN.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Some babies can be horribly colicky for the first 3 months. 2 of my 3 were terrible. The screams were awful, and there is just nothing you can do but rock them, comfort them, rub their little tummies, anything to make them feel better. No-one knows exactly what causes and no-one knows quite what to do - what works for one doesnt work for another.

Just making the point because of what Buknekkid says: "generally" is the most important word in that paragraph because it is not always the parents fault, and making an exhausted Mother at the end of her tether feel like it is does NOT help in the slightest.

Not in any way making any excuse for anyone ever ever hitting their little one though - and Buknekkid - I also bashed the table once! I recommend the bed though - you can hit much harder and still not do yourself any damage! Getting some sponge balls and hurling them at a wall also really helps!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

That is the first one reported this week. Slow week for the child abusers, hey?

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

A mother who has trouble controllinbg her temper need to seek help, possibly an anger management course.

-5 ( +5 / -8 )

Did the child abuse and infanticide phenomenon always reach this level? I've been reading JT since July and there is at least one case of child abuse, murder, death through parental negligence or child suicide per week. It makes me just sick to read this again. What is it that is so different about this culture that it turns so many young people into monsters, leading to the deaths of so many innocents?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I don't think it is really that different to overseas, I read many similar reports back home many years ago.

IMO, just the way JT reports local news.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Same story different day! RIP little girl.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

A mother who has trouble controllinbg her temper need to seek help, possibly an anger management course.

How do you know it was the Mother who abused the child? It could just as easily have been the father. Or both.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

In Australia we have specialist centres where parents and baby can sleep and experts try to find out the reason the baby is screaming and find ways to calm them and educate the parents

Yeah, I heard that from my Australian friends. It sounds like a really good service, especially for first time parents.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Ms Washidaa; Said on the local news.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Ms Washidaa; Said on the local news

Ah, ok, my apologies. I have only read this article and it gives the impression that either or both were responsible.

I agree Mothers who lose their temper repeatedly need help, be it anger management or a good nights sleep(!) but this case sounds like a lot more than a lost temper. I cant understand anyone who would hurt a child, whatever the little tykes are putting you through. Even in my worst, most frustrated, exhausted, stressed, end of my tether moments, I would rather have bashed myself over the head than any of my babies.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

What is it that is so different about this culture that it turns so many young people into monsters, leading to the deaths of so many innocents?

Really interesting question!

I honestly dont know but over the years I have heard opinions such as: cramped living spaces, work stress, inability to talk to other people and relieve stress, stigma attached to seeking help for mental stress/issues, lack of religious "guidance", "gaman" culture, social pressure to get married if pregnant, even if you dont really want to, spoilt young people who see a baby as a fashion accessory, history of abuse growing up that turns someone into an abuser themselves - the list goes on.

Cant say Japan is any worse than anywhere else though, although we seem to hear about it more here. Doesnt necessarily mean its more prevalent, may just be reported more.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

This is not a "Japan" thing, it happens around the world. People sometimes "snap" when they've been driven batty by (1) incessant crying by the infant, (2) worry over why the infant is crying as the baby is unable to explain, (3) all the other things that normally bring stress into the new parent's life. I have read many instances of this happening that had nothing to do with Japan nor people of Japanese ancestry. It is simply the result of people not being ready to accept the responsibility that comes with a newborn.

I don't condone their actions. I don't want to appear to be making an excuse for them. Just because we probably know why they did it doesn't make them any less guilty for taking a life that depended on them for protection.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

agree with some of the above comments that this happens way too often. this kinda shit just makes me sad... r.i.p. young one.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I honestly dont know but over the years I have heard opinions such as: cramped living spaces, work stress, inability to talk to other people and relieve stress, stigma attached to seeking help for mental stress/issues, lack of religious "guidance", "gaman" culture, social pressure to get married if pregnant, even if you don't really want to, spoilt young people who see a baby as a fashion accessory, history of abuse growing up that turns someone into an abuser themselves - the list goes on.

You have a good point on these. Still, these factors only enhance the tendency towards abuse. The thought that children are sacrosanct is independent of the culture. Even though the society in general or Japanese politics might give an impression that children are treated more like things here, no Japanese who I've ever met personally gave me any impression of that sort.

It is probably a specific social layer, in which these cases are the least uncommon. I think that this is the case in my country and I believe it is also the case here. Maybe it is a problem of those who have given up hope for a better life. I'd love to see a statistical analysis of these cases. It might well be the first step of healing this wound of society. Though I'd get sick of thinking of all these poor children...

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Put these 2 evil beings in the lions cage. Done, over! Rest in peace little one, how sad, to think your own parents!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Two words: ****Death Penalty

Please Jgov! no more leniency and sympathy on parents who do this...they don't deserve it!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I really wish they'd hang, but I know it won't happen.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

If a baby is crying, something is wrong. ...................... could be too hot, too cold, in an uncomfortable position, hungry, sick, malnourished, needing a diaper changed, sleepy but can't get to sleep, wanting to be held, wanting breast-fed, etc. etc.

Or maybe because that's the first time when the baby instinctively senses and realizes what a terrible word she was brought to, without anybody asking her whether she wants it or not. She misses the sounds of her mother heartbeat and digestion and all the sounds she was listening for months in her mother uterus. Misses the frightening, dark, lonely, squeezing safety of the uterus and the shocking horror of birth still haunts her( many people are capable to recall it even in adulthood, even without hypnosis).

Senses her mother despair, nervousness, hatred for a crying, otherwise not truly wanted child, which is flavoured with some postnatal depression that never received the necessary medical attention, a demanding impatient father. Parents' dumbness to dispose the unwanted bay at least in the only one baby box in Japan. Cold insensitive society where everybody is for themselves and according to their "gambaru" national culture they must solve their problems alone without asking for help and embarrassing others.

I think it's enough for the weak to fall and bring down a bay with them. Can be more that we can't even suspect and we live in a super-modern human society where nobody is interested in that. Easier to confine them and wait for the next one.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

bay=baby

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Can't wait for the suspended sentence on this one. After all, she has another child to take care of.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I visited Rome some years ago and wondered about the bloodthirsty spectators visiting the Coliseum the rows of sacrificial victims were paraded before the massacres. I thought of the cheering and jeering and how low humanity had sunk. Perusing the comments on this list, I see the same phenomena- the masses on the benches screaming for blood and murder.

--The two people mentioned are above are suspects. They are being investigated, and have not been convicted. They may be innocent, they may be not. While I am in favor of juries, quite often jurors make up their minds based on information from the mass media, which in the case of Japan is all from one source-the police and prosecutors.

God help the criminally accused with sociopaths like those writing above. ---Michael H. Fox ---Japan Innocence and Death Penalty Information Center.
-5 ( +0 / -5 )

They are a bit more than just "suspects", Michael. They've been arrested. While it is true that arrest <> guilty, it is also true that an arrest indicates they are not just "suspects". The parents did nothing to help their claim of innocence,either:

"Oh, she got those bruises when she fell off of a chair." (Amazing. 3-month-old babies are allowed to sit in a chair unattended?)

"Oh wait, I remember now! She got those bruises when her older sister kept hitting her." (Amazing. The parents never thought to keep the two separated after the first bruising session?) Everyone knows it's always better to blame another child in an infant's death because the child "doesn't know better". They won't send the child to prison like they would the parents.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Really? Again? That's the second killing of a child in one month from Osaka. Parents arrested over death of 7-year-old son happened not too long ago. Not to mention the 43 year old woman killing her three year old foster daughter (But that was in Tokyo). And a man in Osaka killing his wife and son, dumping body parts from them all over a park. Wow my home town is crazy.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Oh and also in Chiba about a month ago, a family allowed there child to starve to death? Come on whats this all for? Don't have a kid if your just going to waist there life as if it was nothing. I'm so so sorry for all there death's.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

We are given the lives of the young ones to nuerture , love, and protect,better a millstone be put around the neck of those that harm the children and drown,then to face the wrath of the hereafter. Little one your passing has not gone un noticed R.I.P.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@Michael Fox: and if it turns out they are guilty, what then? Slap on the wrist? "Support and help" for the poor overworked stressed parents who didnt know any better, God bless em, they come from abusive homes themselves?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Education is the answer.

The school board should give all high school students realistic lessons on sex education, contraceptives and how to raise a child and what to expect (the good the bad and the ugly). More importantly, they should explain where to go and seek help if it all becomes too much to handle, and reassure them that they are not alone...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Wife is 22, dad is 25, and there's an older sister who's supposedly old enough to bruise a baby? When did these people start breeding? Tokyokawasaki is right - education seriously lacking. And even if turns out to be the mother who did it ALL, dad is equally culpable- can't tell me he didn't know/notice. I hope the other girl is with relatives or friends who care, but I suspect she's been dumped in a children's home for now, and some of those are no picnic.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Unfortunately regardless of social class, mental capacity, economic situation, people breed. Abuse knows no social class, either. Sad article.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

What difference does age make? We see the same reports coming from 40 year olds. As for education, the week which you spend in hospital after giving birth in generally full of classes on how to handle a screaming new born. You are asked if you feel depressed, constantly checked on. Given a little handbook with facts on post natal depression and who to call when you really can't handle it all.Doctors and nurses do try their best to prevent these things from happening. Even 24 hour emergency hotlines for when something is wrong with baby... Just a shame that some people ignore it. I guess without knowing the full situation we can't say what pushed them over the edge... But being complete a$$holes is definitely one thing we know for sure.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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