crime

28-year-old man accused of punching 2-year-old boy to death

56 Comments

Police on Wednesday arrested a man over the death of a 2-year-old boy in Hino last Sunday. According to police, the boy was found dead in his home where he was under the care of Reo Amakumo, 28, his mother's boyfriend. Police said the boy had numerous bruises on his forehead and body at the time of his death.

Amakumo began living with the boy's mother at the beginning of this month. The woman had just started a job which kept her out of the house for long periods of time, police said. Police believe Amakumo punched the child several times during her absence, causing the boy's death.

During police questioning, Amakumo admitted to punching the boy in the face and was quoted as saying: "I used to punch him if he didn't tidy up."

© Compiled from news reports

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56 Comments
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28 yo is an adult, punching a infant at anytime is wrong, to death is inhuman. I can not believe people think everyone has a limit and snaps. Japan and it's non interference Shogani attitude leads to story after story like this. I rang the cops because my neighbor was beating the crap out of his wife, they took me away. It's not my concern they said, or theirs. I lernt my lesson....don't help others and never expect the cops to help. Do you remember the mum who locked her kids in the mansion, they starved to death. People reported a problem and officials visited rang the bell, no answer so they left. There is no responsibility cool for idiots.

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whiskeysour at 07:41 AM JST - 25th March If the little boy was behaving badly. I would take his toys away or a favorite belonging. If it came to touching the child a little light slap on the bottom would do.

Counting slowly to 5 usually does the trick for my daughter, not that anything happens when I get to 5, it's just an indication that I am serious that I want something done and if she doesn't do it I'll be displeased. Honestly kids love to please adults, show you're serious about something, praise the hell out of them when they do it well and they'll do it for the praise. If they don't do something they're asked to do then ignore them for 5 minutes (earphones in and music turned up while they scream at you). Once they get no reaction from screaming they realise that daddy doesn't respond to screaming and they don't try it the next time.

As for this sick individual I think castration is a reasonable punishment. He should never be allowed to have children, and he'll find girls uninterested in having him as a boyfriend. It seems to fit the crime in my opinion.

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This is one sick bastard! May he hang ASAP! and BURN IN HELL For all of eternity, no BIHFAOE in short hand and the 2 year old little victim RIP. How sad!

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Is there no home/sex/life education in Japanese schools? People(guys especially) should understand how easy it is to get pregnant or get somebody pregnant and how much of a challenge it is actually to raise a kid or 3. It's not something you give up cause it's cutting into your time or cramping your style.

Slightly off topic, but no, there isn't for the most part. I think it is a real issue that needs to be addressed.

But back on topic: this is just so messed up. You don't punish any child by punching them, and from the sound of the article, it doesn't even sound like this guy lashed out against something the child was doing at that moment. It almost sounds like he substituted gentle explanations/scolding with punches. And for crying out loud, if you are frustrated, punch a wall, punch a pillow, punch something that won't be hurt by your poor control.

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RIP little guy!

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I hope single mothers are reading this and think again about living together with a boyfriend they've just met.

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This type of atrocity is getting more common in this country. Note that you will get far more prison time for stealing a pair of socks than for killing your own children. That's the archaic disgusting JAPANESE JUSTICE for you.

Rest in Peace, baby.

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If the little boy was behaving badly. I would take his toys away or a favorite belonging. If it came to touching the child a little light slap on the bottom would do.

Kids that age ( 2 years old ) are wild but the child needs assistance to clean up.

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I'm so lost for words. 2 year olds don't tidy up. You tidy up after them. Maybe this guy's father did this to him when he was younger, who knows? But still, it's no excuse. Where's the father? What's with all these single mothers nowadays? Is there no home/sex/life education in Japanese schools? People(guys especially) should understand how easy it is to get pregnant or get somebody pregnant and how much of a challenge it is actually to raise a kid or 3. It's not something you give up cause it's cutting into your time or cramping your style. I think one of the best ways that we can move forward with this is make every couple who thinks about having a kid babysit or relative's kid or kids for a minimum of 300 hours to get some experience and really see if they're cut out for the job. For the most mundane jobs, you need a cv and proof of experience, I don't see why the simple job of raising our next generation be any less demanding. And mothers, don't leave your kid with some dude you just picked off the streets. They're just looking to get laid and some free food, not be the father/caregiver of the kid of the guy who's left you behind.

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I'm simply saying the situation is a lot more complex than simply branding someone as evil and then moving on.

No it isn't. I don't care how hard it is to raise a child, if you have a support system or not, it doesn't justify punching a two year old in the face to discipline the child. But if you insisnt on seeing the grey area in something like this, you need to see the blank and white. You never, ever punch a two year old, baby, toddler, child etc. in the face to discipline. Black and White...simple as that.

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Before you claim that I'm defending the guy, I'm clearly not. I'm simply saying the situation is a lot more complex than simply branding someone as evil and then moving on.

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Can a woman explain to me why even though women talk about their intuition, there are so many cases of women living with absolute creeps who abuse their kids?

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"I used to punch him...". Nice use of past tense. I guess he stopped punching him when the kid stopped breathing. Sad story. Doesn't really phase me anymore.

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I understand everyone has limits, but how many of you would actually punch a two-year old when you reach your limit?

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mom's boyfriend... AGAIN.. sigh.

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the older I get and the more sickening stories like this I read, the more I think that people like this should just be killed to keep this kind of filth out of the gene pool. sounds harsh but I honestly think people who kill/rape children should just be immediately executed.

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I agree with Kaptankichigai, lethrowaway has a wierd take on this. The story doesn't say anything about the kid screaming, it just says he didn't tidy up ....... whatever that means, and they were not together for "years" just a couple weeks. But as for putting up with screaming from a kid, well just every parent has to put up with it at one time or another. It doesn't give them an excuse for "lashing out".

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@lethrowaway- Why would you put it that way? why not put it on another planet with aliens? thats about as relevant to this story and these posts as your alternate scenario.

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Amakumo began living with the boy’s mother at the beginning of this month used to punch him if he didn’t tidy up

So over a period of less than one month, exactly how many times has this a**hole punched out the 2 year old? Any why didn't Mom know this was going on???

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This guy should be thrown into jail for a very very long time and be treated like an animal while he is there. I feel so bad for the child because he surely did not deserve this treatment in any way.

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Well, let's put it this way then: If I locked you in a room with someone who screamed and screamed in your face all day every day for years,

No, lets not, he said the 2yr old did not "tidy up" after himself. You know do the dishes, wash his own diapers or make his own bed. Nothing said about the boy making a sound to set him off. This dude is just an evil pinhead.

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Refreshing to see, despite the horror of what happened, all this level-headed comment with people trying to show a bit of understanding. Most unusual on this site.

Must be something in the water....

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Someone mentioned adoption earlier on, but this guy's attitude is precisely the one that prevents most Japanese from being able to even fathom adoption.

Ask some Japanese how they feel about adoption and you'll be kind of enlightened. Or saddened. Mostly it's the "it's not my child so I would never be able to love it" kind of attitude. That whole soto/uchi thing. I know we have that kind of attitude in the West, but I also know that adoption rates are super-duper low in Japan.

And when you have that kind of mindset about children that aren't yours, punching an unrelated child to death really isn't that unfathomable. You don't love it unconditionally, you can't even imagine loving it ... it's just this THING that's in the way and causing you stress, like a fly buzzing around your head.

Change the mindset and you'll see fewer of these sorts of murders. Until then, I would be VERY WARY about letting your new boyfriend watch the kiddos. (I think there are a lot of dudes with anger management/control issues in Japan as well, and that doesn't help one bit.)

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Well, let's put it this way then: If I locked you in a room with someone who screamed and screamed in your face all day every day for years, and you couldn't reason with that person at all to make them stop, how long do you think you would last before lashing out? Sure, some of you could endure it - but I imagine that you would hesitate to classify as evil those people who couldn't endure it.

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Amakumo - in the current meme of one Charlie Sheen - "winning"*

perhaps the most sarcastic and ironic winning of all time.

What can you really say about this nasty piece of work? scum of the earth just doesnt cut it.

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Japan has strange laws regarding intervention. My wife called me one day because she saw a woman abandon a young toddler near a river where we usually walk our dogs. I asked some others in my office what she should do. Someone suggested calling the police, but the Japanese teachers said that the police would locate the woman, give her a lecture and then give her back the toddler! Fortunately, after 20 minutes or so, the woman came back.

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woundedsamurai. he WASN'T his parent it was his stupid mother's boyfriend.

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lethroaway he said HE PUNCHED him because he didn't TIDY UP! How can you talk about snapping? he wasn't crying or screaming. a 2 year old does not have the mental capacity to understand tidying up . I wish this guy would have to go to an American prison where prison justice would prevail for him.

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@HermioneGranger - Good spot.

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He is a very bad man - hitting a child like that. We should give more powers to the government to intervene and take authority over these wrong doers. Perhaps we should create a child protection agency just like the ones in the us and uk. I think it really is time we restricted a parent's authority over his/her child. Choices for children need to be made by experts. That said, I'd like some more information regarding this.

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WTF is with this sick bastard??!!

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lethroaway: Completely agree that we all have our limits and all of us occasionally snap in one way or another -- be it throwing something against a wall, punching a tree, or heaven forbid hitting another person. The latter, of course, I am 100% against, particularly in the case of hitting a child (punching/slapping/otherwise) as a form of punishment. It accomplishes nothing. Now, I CAN see a parent swatting a childs hand or yanking them hard as a gut reaction to the child putting themselves in danger (going to run across a busy street, touch a hot stove, etc.), and even then it's painful to watch, but as punishment?

I can understand how your neighbours may WANT to hit their four year old kid or what have you, but it's still wrong and unlikely to accomplish much if anything. Regardless, this man PUNCHED a two year old for not tidying up (how much tidying up could a two year old do?), and this time it led to the boy's death... poor kid. I hope the accused is locked up for a good 10 years, but knowing the justice system here it'll be 2 or 3, tops.

Agree with what one poster said above -- you would think that with what happened up north with the earthquake and tsunami we would have learned a little more about the sanctity of life. Guess not.

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What was the guy thinking when he was hitting this child. I don't care if the child was a baby or a teenager, they are not punching bags of fun.

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@letthrowaway- youre right, its not always so easy. But sometimes it IS so easily classified. This is one of those times. Everyones limits do not include loss of patience with a child that leads to brutal murder. THAT is easily classified as EVIL. What more can be said about it?

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I get that people aren't so easily classified into good or evil for what they do. Everyone has limits and some people just reach that limit and snap. What more can be said about this event?

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During police questioning, Amakumo admitted to punching the (2 year old)boy in the face and was quoted as saying: “I used to punch him if he didn’t tidy up.”

.....

Sorry, I am lost for words.

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My three and a half year old boy is trying to say the least! Because I'm his father and love him I am able to resist my urges to hit him, I have no limit to my patience with him. I can imagine were I not his father I may well lose control! Well before that ever happened I would get out though.

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No, toddlers got it coming, and they can defend themselves. My stance, while controversial, only applies to infants.

Moderator: Your stance is offensive. Don't ever post such remarks again.

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I used to not understand parents who killed or hurt their children either. Then I moved next door to a family with a 4 year old girl who screams and cries for hours every single day. Now I get it. Everyone has a limit and some people's limits are much lower than others.

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Why? Just why? Thats the only word I can think of. How could any human being do that to a defenceless child? How could anyone be so cold-blooded as to beat a baby (yes, 2 is still a baby) to death because he didnt (couldn`t?) tidy up. It beggars belief.

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Wow, how much force would you have to punch a kid in the face to kill them?! Sounds like his intent was murder. Poor little kid.

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@Poke- good policy, however 2 years old is not an infant. Does your stance apply to toddlers?

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Poke - that's quite a controversial standpoint you're taking there, isn't it?

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I think punching infants is wrong. I don't care what anyone thinks, I am coming out strongly against punching infants.

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He should be sent to the gallows.

Moderator: Readers, please stop posting suggestions for the man's punishment. Such remarks add nothing to the discussion.

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Not surprised in the least as there are loads of these situations in Japan. Two lives ruined and one kid dead and the mizu racket with the BF freeloader lives on. Hint: Start adoption/foster kid programs but that is wishful thinking like signing the Hague Convention which they should know with open arms.

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I recently read that it is 60 times more likely that a child will be killed by an unrelated adult rearing them than by their actual mother or father.

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As soon as the worst of the earthquake is over, we're back to this type of news. I thought we learned something about the sanctity of life.

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Same old scenario. Mother and "boyfriend".

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What a brave guy! I hope he realizes how it feels whilst in prison.

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Sick. I hope he rots. Anyone that would punch a 2-year-old deserves the same and with a pair of brass knuckles.

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This guy needs to go away for about 20 and when he gets out not to be with kids..at all

Correction: This guy needs to go away and not get out at all.

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20? this guy needs to go down for the dirt nap. Perhaps the mother is responsible of negligence if there was prior evidence of beating and her leaving the boy with its abuser.

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OMG didnt tidy up......!!! at 2yrs old... This guy needs to go away for about 20 and when he gets out not to be with kids..at all

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boy was found dead in his home where he was under the care of Reo Amakumo

not much "care" it seems! another unemployed piece of crap. did the mother not notice?

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“I used to punch him if he didn’t tidy up.”

I'm speachless. He said it like it's an everyday occurrance. The baby was 2 years old for heavens sake!

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