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crime

14-year-old boy arrested for dropping 5-year-old girl from 2nd floor of sports center

26 Comments

A 14-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after he dropped a 5-year-old girl from the second floor of a sports center in Mihara, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Monday night.

According to police, the incident occurred around 6:15 p.m at the Mihara Region Plaza. The boy, who had finished swimming at the center, grabbed the girl on the first floor, carried her up the stairs to the second floor and then dropped her back down to the first floor six meters below, Fuji TV reported.

An employee saw the girl hit the first floor and called 119. The boy remained at the scene and was taken into custody by police. He was quoted by police as saying the girl, whom he did not know, clung to him, and he got angry.

Police said the boy, who attends a special needs school, told them he was sorry for what he had done. They said his parents told them that he does not like to be touched.

The girl suffered a broken jaw and other injuries but is in a stable condition in hospital, police said Tuesday. Her father was in the gym at the time of the incident.

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26 Comments
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Yeah, the boy need to be parked in an institution where he can't endanger others' lives...

13 ( +18 / -5 )

He obviously has some serious issues, at 14 he also have the power to execute dangerous things.. hopefully they lock him up at a mental facility for the rest of his life.

-1 ( +10 / -11 )

 He was quoted by police as saying the girl, whom he did not know, clung to him, and he got angry.

Lock him up.  you throw a 5 year old which is clinging to you for support and safety from the second floor you are messed up. If not juvi then a mental institution. But either way, lock him up

1 ( +8 / -7 )

If this child has such psychotic tendencies why is he not under constant supervision? I'm relieved the little girl didn't sustain any life threatening injuries, poor little mite.

12 ( +16 / -4 )

Where are all the parents when this happened?

9 ( +13 / -4 )

Most likely chatting in the observation room.

Most swimming pools don't allow parents in during lessons.

Surprised gogogo is not aware az a J-resident.

He came from a specialised school.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Meant the boy is from school that is specialised.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

On TV this evening they showed the stairwell, and the dented edge of the metal lockers that she hit on the way to the floor. Poor little thing.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

What a complete frigging nutter! Why was this phycho unsupervised in a public pool? Japan does far too little for special needs care, especially for children. They are mostly just left in their parents' care. There is a special needs school near my house and people are traveling for up to two hours away because there is no special needs school near them.

I hope this littke girl recovers from her injuries, but I'm sure she will be emotionally scarred for life.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

This kid is very sick and needs to be placed in a secure psychiatric facility never to be released into the general population.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

The most likely explanation, if it was a "special" school, is that he is intellectually disabled. That's a reason, not an excuse. So yes, an institution is the answer - not very much in favour in these days of deviant individuals' rights having supremacy over those of the rest of us to be safe!

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Future murderer! Get him off the streets!

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Police said the boy, who attends a special needs school, told them he was sorry for what he had done. They said his parents told them that he does not like to be touched.

He could be on the autistic spectrum; there's not enough info here & already people are calling on him to be locked up for life. Jaysus.

Of course it's a horrible, horrible incident & thankfully the younger kid is on the mend but the boy is just a kid too and if he does suffer from ASD - being touched or even brushed against (friendly or playfully) can result in a bad reaction.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Tony W. June 6  08:25 pm JST

The most likely explanation, if it was a "special" school, is that he is intellectually disabled. That's a reason, not an excuse. 

Unfortunately in Japan, many teens as well as adults with mental illness go untreated. There are many reasons why teens don’t receive the mental health treatment they need. Sometimes parents don’t recognize the need or don’t have the means to get their child treatment.

In most areas of Japan, they lack adequate mental health providers as well. There are many dangers of allowing a mental health condition to go untreated. Suicide is also a major risk for teens and adults who aren’t receiving appropriate mental health care.

>

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Police said the boy, who attends a special needs school,

And at that point, some journalists (editors?) might pause on the story instead of broadcasting it around the world.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Despite the high rate of mental illness and suicide rate of 51 per 100,000 people, mental health treatment in Japan is widely regarded as lagging behind compared to other developed countries. This is sad.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

There are a number of factors at work here.

1) Not enough or adequate mental providers.

2) People aren't observant enough to recognize or just ignorant to identify a problem

3) No financial means to deal with it.

4) This is culture where it is preferred to ignore serious problems; therefore, it doesn't exist. Largely, the country has a major stigma about being different or having a disease. Families and individuals will just totally deny it which quite often makes the problem.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

One thing I've seen while working at (some, not all) schools in Japan is that new inexperienced teachers are sent to special education the first year or so too then, they could become regular teachers the following year. Which yes, it's good experience for them but for the students, maybe not so much. As there's a high turnover of teachers not specifically designated to work in special education. Therefore, lacking the knowledge to deal with said students.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The 14 year old clearly needs help and if he is attending a school for special needs and has issues, why was he left alone?

And why on earth was a five year old left alone to run around a sport's centre? I see this far too often here. Kids who are far too young to be left alone running around with no adult supervision. Yeah, yeah, you can't watch kids 24 hours a day but when you are out of the house, someone needs to watching kids this age all the time. Poor kid must be terrified now. I hope she gets the support she needs. I hope both kids do.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

They said his parents told them that he does not like to be touched.

I assume he doesn't ride any public transportation then.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Report last night said that one girl from a group forcefully hugged him and kept talking to host .

Not sure where his/her minders were but from report closeby/out of sight.

Sad incident due to a misunderstanding.

Boy might have said stop/don't touch me which got ignored.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@Tony W. June 6 08:25 pm JST

The most likely explanation, if it was a "special" school, is that he is intellectually disabled. That's a reason, not an excuse. So yes, an institution is the answer - not very much in favour in these days of deviant individuals' rights having supremacy over those of the rest of us to be safe!

Legally, it might turn out to be. He's already "only" 14 and thus at the very bottom of the range for criminal responsibility. Add some kind of mental deficiency and he's very likely to evade it.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Of course it's a horrible, horrible incident & thankfully the younger kid is on the mend but the boy is just a kid too and if he does suffer from ASD - being touched or even brushed against (friendly or playfully) can result in a bad reaction.

Doesn't mean he's not dangerous..And when he gets bigger, wouldn't want him anywhere near people.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Doesn't mean he's not dangerous..And when he gets bigger, wouldn't want him anywhere near people.

Whilst the incident was horrible, this kind of thing is upsetting. It's a developmental disorder and if, as his parents say, he has this problem - it's not his fault he reacted as he did. Locking him up won't help and it won't shed any more light on the nature of ASD.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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