crime

Woman, 23, held for kicking 1-yr-old daughter to death in Saitama

41 Comments

A 23-year-old woman was arrested on Friday for beating her 1-year-old daughter to death at their apartment in Saitama. Kazusa Kondo was arrested for allegedly kicking her daughter Kotone repeatedly in the stomach on Thursday night.

According to police, the suspect's father, who lives near the apartment, visited the apartment around 8:30 p.m. and found Kotone unconscious and his daughter in another room. He called an ambulance and Kotone was taken to hospital where she died about two hours later.

The suspect, who divorced in April, lived with Kotone, Kotone's twin brother and their 3-year-old brother at the apartment. She was quoted by police as saying, “She never looked me in the face. Whenever I tried to get close to her, she would suddenly start crying. I just wanted her to stop, but I lost my temper.”

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41 Comments
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Sickening, another example of declining standards of parenting at times in Japan. Death sentence.

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Saitama again... couldn't resist.

Japan seriously needs a certification system for parenting and spontaneous visits to check up on the kids every other month. How many more kids need to be murdered by their own parents before officials realise this is becoming a nationwide pandemic.

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That is terrible and so sad.

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I agree, straight to death row!! Allow her no appeals! Put up pics of her child in her cell. Tip her dying breath make her remember what she has done. I'm actually shaking with rage at this and every other child murder that happens...

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In low-crime Japan, of course, relative-on-relative murders get a lot more coverage than they do in the West, giving the false impression that such crimes are more common here.

Moderator: Comparisons to crime rates in other countries are not relevant to this discussion.

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Japan is no longer "Low Crime". It is much more dangerous than my small hometown in the American midwest. No one is shot, stabbed, or kicked to death!

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Yamashinaku,

Japan has over a hundred million more people than your hometown. This isn't a local newspaper. It's a site with news from all over the archipeligo. This explains why, as far as I know, no one is shot, stabbed, or kicked to death in my small hometown here in Japan, either.

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Yet another nutcase in... Saitama???

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"Japan is no longer "Low Crime". It is much more dangerous than my small hometown in the American midwest. No one is shot, stabbed, or kicked to death!"

Totally agree ! Violence in Japan has been off the charts these past 10 years. The difference is, in Japan they hide the data. These stories of parents murdering their children in fits of rage have become all too common place. This is a national crisis ! When will the government do something about the lack of mental health services ? The old farts running the show in Tokyo have their heads firmly planted in the sand, or up their keesters, as they simply refuse to admit that the nation is awash in parental angst. This crap just sickens me ! My wife ever did that to my kid ? Forget the judicial system... she's a gonner !

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something is always brewing in Saitama...maybe its the water that makes them nuts

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Government of citizens via the judicial system can be likened to the parenting of children, it appears to be a common view amongst posters here that a good way to deal with an out of control "child" is to kill them. So why are these same posters so steamed up about this news story.. This woman was wrong to kill her child..but no more or less wrong than anyone who would kill her in punishment.All life is precious.

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Oh, Saitama. What an interesting place it must be. I like the first post in this thread commenting on the declining standards of parenting. They are not declining at all! It's always been like this. It's only the obscurity that has increased. Ask people in their 30's about child and spousal abuse from when they were kids and it's no different. It's cultural! Just like eating squid guts and fried sparrows on a stick. Oh, glory days!

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3 children, divorced - i think, it woun't be any death sentence

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I cannot imagine the agony and pain for that poor child.

I hope she is in a better place with a parent that deserves her.

Sad...

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she should seek help from NGO around her. The child doesnt deserve to be like that by own parent. The father should take charge of it. No matter they are divorce both must still maintain good parents for the child. Pray for the justice.

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This does bear some similarities to the other recent case. Three children, the youngest two being twins. It really makes me both mad and sad when there are so many couples who would love to have children but can't, be they infertile, gay, or whatever. And here we have scum who are breeding like bunnies and who won't act like humans.

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More than anything, I'm stunned that she left the child to die afterwards. Even if she was at her wits ends and lost her temper for a few moments, she should have come to her senses and called an ambulance right away. It's very sad for the two remaining children, they'll have to grow up with their mother in jail and with the knowledge she killed their sister.

I imagined she snapped because she couldn't cope alone with a three-year-old and one-year-old twins. Being a single mother with just one child is very hard. Can you imagine what it would be like alone with three small children 24/7? Even the most well-adjusted person would snap. Thankfully for the vast majority of people 'snapping' doesn't take the form of hitting or kicking a child. I want to make it clear I'm not defending her in any way. However maybe the children's father, her family and social services could have done something to help before this tragedy happened. I hope this will wake people up and everyone who knows children in this situation will offer some assistance before something like this happens.

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“She never looked me in the face. Whenever I tried to get close to her, she would suddenly start crying. I just wanted her to stop, but I lost my temper.”

First off, the kid was one year old! I wouldn't look that cow in the face either. She probably hit the girl all the time.

Abuse is a repetitive behavior and Japanese people see the signs of it and ignore it.

I imagined she snapped because she couldn't cope alone with a three-year-old and one-year-old twins. Being a single mother with just one child is very hard. Can you imagine what it would be like alone with three small children 24/7? Even the most well-adjusted person would snap.

rurika I would have to argue against that. My grandmother raised 12 kids with an alcoholic husband. My mother raised 5 and had time for 3 step children as well. You either love your children unconditionally or you don't.

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Japan is no longer "Low Crime". It is much more dangerous than my small hometown in the American midwest. No one is shot, stabbed, or kicked to death!

I think the chances of being murdered by a stranger are probably higher in the west, although certainly not non-existant in Japan. The chances of being murdered by your family seems higher in Japan, especially for young kids, although again that isn't to say it never happens in the west.

Poor kid. Stories like this make me feel relieved that the Japanese birth rate is so low.

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Hopefully she will have enough time in prison to think about her gruesome murder of her own baby.

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Article: "...found Kotone unconscious and his daughter in another room."

Wait, Kotone IS his daughter, right? Why not just write "....found Kotone unconscious the in the room"

Moderator: Kotone is his granddaughter.

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when is saitama going to learn?

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I hope hell is hot enough for this women.

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Okay, I'm going to say it; Saitama again????? Wow, how mnay days now. Perhaps there's a certain type of person that happens to move there. How very sad. I bet she was a cute little kid. I can't imagine taking anger that far as to kill a child especially the repeated kicking as the child lay there helpless and in pain. You would think that if she lost her temper that after the first kick that in itself would have woken her up from that trance of anger. Still inexcuasble.

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Saitama is a major bed-town right now for many workers in tokyo. As with any bed-town you will find a fair share of nutters.

Just a fact.

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the new Japan, low class.

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This is just sad. Another child dying by the hands of the so called "adult" who bore her.

Not much I can see a 1 year old doing that drove this woman (she certainly can't be called a "mother") over the edge. This woman should have nightmares of her child for the rest of her life. Kicking a 1 yr old in the stomach??? wtf!?!? Talk about insanity!

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As parents it all hurts our hearts when we read this stuff especially when they are so young. I feel for the divorced father and the grandparents (who nothing was mentioned about)

May this little girls soul rest in peace.

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I wish she gets death sentence but victims innocent twin brother and 3 yrs old brother comes in the scene who will suffer without parents for their no fault. It is very difficult to decide the kind of punishment she should get. Though her lawyer would have this as a very good excuse to save her from a hard punishment.

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farhaan,

You cannot get the death sentence in Japan from killing only one person. Read the law.

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Are there no programs that offer support to single parents? Her stress level must've been off the charts, which is no excuse. Other single parents under extreme stress, usually financial, seem to make it through one way or another. One of my friends has a solution to this problem: sterilize all children at birth. When they want to start their own families, they need to go through an extensive process like adoption - lots of counseling, forms and home visits. If they pass, the sterilization process is reversed. Yeah, I know - never going to happen. My friend K. says, "Parenting is the most important job we'll ever do but we receive almost no training for it."

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Is Saitama that bad, or are all of the journalists handing this stuff to JT located in Saitama and mostly going through police reports there?

--Cirroc

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Very sad story, the sad part is the three year old boy will have no mother. I am not going to critize her.

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This freaks me out - I shared the elevator at my apartment block yesterday with a seriously stressed British mother with 2 toddlers and a baby in a pram. She screamed at the boys twice and whacked one of them around the face - in front of me and in the short span of a lift ride. Maybe I should have made more an effort to work out where she was living. 'Cause this is something I can totally see her doing.

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man, I just thought about my little niece (approx. 1 and 1/2). She can't even talk yet. Being kicked to death is pretty messed up in itself, but being kicked to death at that age....

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" Is Saitama that bad, or are all of the journalists handing this stuff to JT located in Saitama and mostly going through police reports there? "

No idea, but but this summer, Saitama is certainly in the news a lot, and not in a good way.

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Saitama needs a brick wall building around it to keep everyone out and safe!

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i hope the investigator will kick her in the stomach every time she does not look him in the eyes.

What is wrong with these people!

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always saitama.

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Lock this woman up and toss the key.

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The father should be held responsible as much as the mother, if not more. This year divorced? That isnt even time for support programs to kick in....3 kids under 3? A 3yo and twins isnt easy for most people to handle alone. This husband father should be held responsible too, I feel for the mother, even though what she did is inconceivable to me.

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