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Police in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, have arrested a 28-year-old unemployed woman on suspicion of parental neglect resulting in death after her two-month-old son died of malnutrition.
Yu Chiba, a resident of Aoba Ward, was arrested on Friday and has admitted to the charge, Fuji TV reported. She was quoted by police as saying, “About 10 days before Futo (the infant) died, I didn’t have enough money to buy infant formula. I should have taken him to the hospital sooner.”
According to police, Chiba’s mother visited the family at their prefectural housing unit Thursday afternoon at around 5 p.m. and saw the frail condition of Futo and his twin brother. She took them to hospital where Futo died on Friday at around 6:45 a.m. from dehydration and malnutrition. Doctors said he weighed only 3.1 kgs. Futo’s twin brother was also suffering from malnutrition but is in a stable condition, police said.
Chiba lived with her 58-year-old father, and the twins – who were born on Nov 19, and two other children, a boy and a girl, who have been taken to a child welfare center.
© Japan Today
13 Comments
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vic.M
Having no money is common in this country and very little welfare compared to other
developed countries.
smithinjapan
Hope this woman rots in prison for life. Since it’s Japan, though, likely no jail time so she can “take care” of the other kids. Depends on the bell jar sentencing, though.
gogogo
So tragic on so many levels. She let kids down, her family was no where, father(s) are no where, government and child welfare?
Lindsay
Shouldn’t blame the victim mate. The ones who should behind bars are the ones who created such a pathetic support and education system for single mothers. I’m actually a bit astonished she wasn’t breast feeding them at two months old. I understand that some women cannot, of course.
tmarie
If she’s got two kids in care, why would the state think she can manage TWINS?!
TrevorPeace
I'm a father. If my daughter and her babies had to live with me because the father of the children refused any responsibility to help her, those babies would NOT go without formula. I seriously question her father's sense of responsibility. He's as much to blame for that baby's death as she is.
sensei258
@ vic et al - as a single mother, she would have been getting financial support from her local city hall.
sensei258
I'll be the one to say it, if she already had two kids that she couldn't take care of, why was she making more.
Aly Rustom
As the father of a 3 year old and a 7 month old, this story just stabed me in the heart and then smashed it into a thousand different pieces..
Sha
As far as I know, child welfare is being provided by the government to qualified families. No doubt this family is qualified. On top of that, single-parent families are also qualified to claim additional child support. If the adults used up all the money or if it's not enough, the mom or the grandpa could have atleast fed the babies some sugar/salt solution to prevent dehydration. Also, I'm sure a social worker/public health worker was assigned to check on these kids regularly.