Police in Shiraoka, Saitama Prefecture, are investigating the death of a 15-year-old boy who was found unconscious his bedroom at home, and later died in hospital.
According to police, the boy’s mother called 119 at around 4:50 a.m. on Jan 15, claiming that her son was lying on his futon in the living room, half-conscious, Sankei Shimbun reported. When paramedics arrived at the scene, they found bruises inflicted on the boy’s face and reported the incident to the police.
The teenager, Sota Kato, was taken to a hospital but died on Tuesday afternoon. A judicial autopsy has been scheduled to determine the cause of death.
Police said they are questioning the boy's parents about how he got the bruises, and if he was out on the night of Jan 14. Police said the boy's mother told them he returned home a few days earlier, having been injured or beaten. The boy lived with seven siblings in the house.
© Japan Today
23 Comments
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Tom Doley
Do mothers go and check their teenagers sleeping at 4.50am? Weird..
garypen
It never said he was sleeping.
Perhaps he had just gotten home, collapsed onto his bed, and she was awaken by the noise.
Perhaps her son encountered an intruder, and she was awaken by the noise. But, he was gone by the time she got to her son.
Or, perhaps she was indeed involved. Maybe her boyfriend beat the son.
It could be one of many different scenarios. More info or a follow-up article is needed. But, we probably won't see it here.
Michael Machida
Why didn't the patrons know where their son was on this day and night?
snowymountainhell
Tragic. - A mother rousing her child early for study, a commute & school; suspected parental abuse; a teenager’s possible clandestine excursions away from home overnight, etc: - Can’t fault ANY of the readers comments. - Too limited information in 4 simplistic paragraphs make it ripe for speculation. -
snowymountainhell
Agreed @garypen 7:54am but also didn’t say anything about ANY mother’s ‘boyfriend’: “Police said they are questioning the boy's parents.”
timeon
This story lacks so many details, so I checked the Japanese press. Well, they also only say that "the police is investigating". Regarding Garypen's comment, the Japanese press indeed says that the boy was "living with his mother, her boyfriend, and 7 siblings（兄弟）". Not sure if the family situation is of relevance, but it seems that way to me...
garypen
That creates even more possibilities. It's a shame that basic info wasn't included in the JT article, as the JP press probably uses the same sources.
I wish that JT writers not only included more details in their articles, but also followed up with additional articles when new information becomes available. That would definitely be more interesting than most of the recycled Sora News and Grape Japan articles.
therougou
The neighbors said they were a married couple, but this seems more and more like the typical non-working couple that stays unmarried so they can both collect welfare, and receives money for all of their kids on top of that. Then they make the kids look after each other, and beat them when they fail to do so.
Harry_Gatto
Once again, when facts are few, experts are many.
snowymountainhell
Considering @timeon’s 9:52 interpretation of the local news, my humble “Apologies”, in part, to @garypen 8:37am as I was only going on what was reported here in JT. As other veteran posters like Aonghas Crowe has pointed out, translators used to proudly sign off and/or get a byline on their JT submissions.
smithinjapan
Tom Doley: "Do mothers go and check their teenagers sleeping at 4.50am?"
It does say that the boy was on his futon in the living room, so she may well have been passing through and saw something was a little amiss. It's not like she opened the door to his bedroom and peered in.
Mickelicious
Seven siblings? Wow!
3RENSHO
Investigating pathologist has reported the boy suffered injuries both new, and pre-existing; this could suggest a long-standing pattern of abuse had occurred over time. Police are beginning to suspect a family member had beaten the victim...
Blackstar
Seven siblings. They wouldn't all have their own bedrooms, would they. Very likely that the lounge room was his normal sleeping place. The mother may have passed by to get a glass of water. Or he wasn't home at the expected time the night before, and his mother was worried. Not really a big mystery about that part of the story, surely.
Mark
Sad any time a young life is lost.
CaptDingleheimer
Eight kids in total in one family in Japan? I've never heard of such a thing. Not that it has any bearing on this poor child's fate, but that is a lot of kids!
snowymountainhell
Good work @timeon 9:52am: the plot thickens. - Seems the last 2 lines for clarification of the story regarding additional family in the same house were added after @smithinJapan’s 5:58pm comments regarding “his” bedroom :
Captain Obvious
Am I reading this wrong? I thought the boy returned 'a few days earlier' with the injuries and it seems the mother didn't bother to contact paramedics during this time. Have to agree that there is so little information that this story is open to speculation.
I'm pretty sure she knew how injured he was and was regularly checking up on him. My read on it is that the mother knew who had beaten him and was afraid of the repercussions by calling the authorities, but decided after 'a few days' because his state was looking critical.
therougou
What else would we do other than making assumptions? Anyway, seems I was correct the boy hadn't been to school and had been taking care of his siblings.
therougou
That is the second part of my assumption, that the mother or "boyfriend" was beating him. Only time will tell, but either way they are unfit parents for basically leaving him to die.