Woman arrested after trying to flush infant down toilet in Nagoya

Monday 28th April, 09:02 AM JST

NAGOYA —

Police on Sunday arrested a woman who allegedly tried to flush her infant son down a toilet. A police spokesperson said that Ritsuko Taniguchi, 33, gave birth three months prematurely in her apartment bathroom on Saturday.

Police said that Taniguchi, who was single and lived alone, apparently put the 880-gram baby head first in the toilet and tried to flush him. The child died and its body blocked the toilet. Taniguchi called a plumber, telling him it was a doll, but he was suspicious and called police later. Police said the woman will be changed with abandonment of a body.

Wire reports

Latest 15 of 49 Total Comments Show All

zaichik at 06:29 AM JST - 30th April

You are exactly the type of person that prevents these kinds of horrible acts from being stopped

Really? How, exactly?

Your hysterical post certainly doesn't add any weight to your opinions. Things in life are rarely black and white, and I certainly wouldn't want to judge this woman without knowing more about the circumstances of the situation (indeed, it isn't my place to judge at all). I hope you never find yourself in a position where you're reliant on someone's compassion....
CMEANDU26 at 07:25 AM JST - 30th April

Doesn't matter where the father's are. Why didn't she go to the hospital? Was it a secret? Really stupied. I can care less about her frame of mind. She was smart enough to have the baby in the bathroom and not call anyone. She knew what she was doing. Give her the rope and let her drop.
Blue_Tiger at 11:46 AM JST - 30th April

I know that saying this is goign to get a lot of heat, probably, but it must be said: I blame this sick death of a baby on three areas:

(1.) The Idea of Evolution - when people are constantly taught and drileld in the belief that man came from a cesspool of amino acids and that human life evolved upwards, this sort of killing will happen. After all, if people are taught by tewachers, professors, society, and science at large that mankind is no more than glorified pondscum, how can anyone state that human life is any more precious than that of a fly or a gnat? However, if people are taught that Man is created in the Image of God, then human life becomes much more precious...

(2.) The Acceptance and Preaching of Sex (and other bad choices in life) without Consequences - Face it, folks: this sad end to the life of a baby is precisely because Ms. Taniguchi was taught by everyone around her, society and school included, that sex is fun, that she should do it with whomever she chooses, whenever she chooses, and to not worry about the consequecnes of sex apart from marriage. Really, what Ms. Taniguchi did is no different than what happens every single day in the majority of the world with regards to abortion. How many other 6-month-pregnant women killed their babies thanks in large part to society's preaching of sex without consequences....or any bad choice without consequences, for that matter? Why is it that people are getting in such a tizzy because this woman -- in reality -- did absolutely nothing different than what millions of other 6-month-pregnant women do each and every day in the Technologically advanced world??????

(3.) Selfishness - Ultimately, this is exactly why Ms. Taniguchi killed her baby: she was merely being selfish. And why was she so selfish? Again, society at large preaches self above all else. "Have it your, right away!" "Obey your thirst!" How many other selfish slogans are out there, perpetrated by an uncontrolled media, and supported by a society that wants what it wants whenever it can get it? In reality, Ms. Taniguchi was following the god of this day and age: self. Only when people start to look out for the needs of others -- particularly the helpless and most vulnerable in this world (babies and children) will things like this cease happening. Really, once people start doing things God's way again, will instances of such brutality begin to cease.

This death of this baby is a tragedy of the worst kind, but, unfortunately, more and more of this will continue to happen so long as thwe above three areas are left to themselves. We can point fingers all we like, come up with Baby Hutch/Hatch alternatives (which really is just another symptom of selfishness gone amok) all we want, but all the solutions and alternatives this world can offer will come to nothing so long as God is left out of the picture....
Blue_Tiger at 12:20 PM JST - 30th April

tkyosam - Is this not a public forum? Is this not a place to post opinion and debate? Forgive me if I choose to live in Japan and not East Germany or Red China, and express my views as I chose. When you, tkyosam, become dictator of anywhere other than your own house or room, let me know so I can leave to go to a place where freedom of expression is still protected by law.

As far as my views, why not rebut them, instead of tarrign and feathering the messenger?

Again, all three of the areas I posted above are the reasons for this tragedy....
KitsuneYoukai at 06:13 AM JST - 1st May

Spare me the moral rhetoric here. There are many religious married people who are out having fun sex with other parteners not their spouse. This is not a daily every person occurrence here but there will always be people out there who will make such a choice for whatever reason like this women did. Sad and cruel as it is, this woman decided to abandon her child in a gruesome manner. I don't see what relevance all this have sex only when yu egt married talk as though this stops people from making bad choices.
TheguyNextdoor at 02:33 PM JST - 1st May

Cmeandu...i agree. Give her the rope and let her drope. It was a child!!! Don't care about the state of mind, or whatever anyone wants to put out there...she was smart enough to open her legs and get pregnant, she knew damn well what she was doing. She will burn in hell...
Zen_Builder at 02:41 PM JST - 1st May

Funny how the radical christian right tries to judge everything by their values. Yet, Japan does not follow the judeo-christian-islamic morals and value set.

Actually happy that the christians are in a minority here. As for her actions There is not enough info that the JT article to make any form of judgement.
TheguyNextdoor at 02:55 PM JST - 1st May

All that needed to be known is she tried to kill her child. I'm not judging anyone on here, but people do make excuses for people like this.
Seawhiz at 03:06 PM JST - 1st May

Dudenextdoor, I agree with you and Cmeandu this is stupid and she should be taking out to a gun line and shot to death or torture to death for killing an innocent child that never got the chance to enjoy his or her short lived life. If she didn't want the baby she should have never had spreaded her legs and allow the guy next door to get her pregnant, or maybe she some issues but suck it up and take care of your kid. Why killed the baby, how about an attempt at adoption or having an abortion. I guess she is going to say she heard voice telling her to kill the baby or some BS like that.
CMEANDU26 at 03:13 PM JST - 1st May

Excuses.....she had the baby early and instead of going for medical attention she tried to flush it. I learned a long time ago that I can just flush my problems away. She should sit in a small jail cell and learn the same for about 50 - 60 years. Let her out when she can't have anymore kids.
Blue_Tiger at 08:45 PM JST - 1st May

Zen_Builder - You can crow-cry at those Judeo-Christian values, and de-value, defame, and in any other way belittle them all you choose, but I defy you and any other skeptic to give a good, tangible, BELIEVABLE reason why this woman offed her baby in such a horrid, ruthless, terrible way....and don't even begin to say she was mental or psychotic on some abstract way. She was sane enough to call the plumber to try to fix her baby-clogged toilet, and as far as her age goes, I know of several dozen 33-year-old women who'd have wished to have been in her place, expecting a baby. And just so Zen_Builder knows, the so-called "radical Christian right" doesn't judge by "their" values, but byt he values of Jesus Christ....
frontandcentre at 12:21 PM JST - 2nd May

theguynextdoor:

Don't care about the state of mind, or whatever anyone wants to put out there...she was smart enough to open her legs and get pregnant, she knew damn well what she was doing. She will burn in hell...

Well, how VERY understanding of you. This person was clearly in a severely distressed state and needs urgent help. Have you never heard of Post Natal Depression? It can, and sadly does, lead to awful tragedies such as these. Please think before you are so swift to thoughtlessly and heartlessly condemn people
CMEANDU26 at 01:23 PM JST - 2nd May

frontandcentre:

This person was clearly in a severely distressed state and needs urgent help. Have you never heard of Post Natal Depression? It can, and sadly does, lead to awful tragedies such as these. Please think before you are so swift to thoughtlessly and heartlessly condemn people

I understand that she might need help. But what I get confused about is how she tried to cover it up. She is so sick that she tried to flush the baby in the tolite. That is how the baby died. The body was too big so she called the plummer to fix the clog. She told the plummer it was a doll. So how does she go from needing help to covering up a crime so fast. I think she knew what she was doing and got caught. If the body didn't get stuck it no one would have ever known. That is why I think she should go to jail FOREVER. If she would killed the baby then called for help or reached out to someone I would have another opnion but she tired to cover up the whole thing. She is not crazy she is just a bad person.
superesonator at 08:59 PM JST - 4th May

Have you never heard of Post Natal Depression? It can, and sadly does, lead to awful tragedies such as these.

My my, what did we ever do before we invented Post Natal Depression? Had big happy families I seem to recall. The pharmaceuticals doled out to sufferers of your trendy pseudo-diseases are causing far more murders, as I read in the US papers.

I would wager this woman had her head-full with post alcohol abuse and or prescription medication depression. That of course is omitted from the story.
Blue_Tiger at 02:04 PM JST - 6th May

No, superesonator, this woman was SELFISH. She was thinking of herself above everything else. She couldn't have a baby inconveniencing her life, just as the millons of other women here in this country and elsewhere in the Technologically Advanced World, which is why they usually kill their babies before they are born (read abortion). She was selfish, plain and simple....