Man arrested for assaulting common-law wife's 6-year-old son

Steve Crichton: Where is he now?

I was victim of my step fathers abuse for most of my childhood and he nearly killed me. The school knew, my mother watched on and did or said nothing. I call that willful neglect and a failure of ones duty of care to ones child. How is that comment offensive or vulgar. And its not off topic it right on topic actually.

Strangerland: "The child wasn't left home alone, so what relevance does this comment have?"

Really, then what about...:

"A neighbor noticed the boy’s bruised face on the afternoon of May 20 and notified police, who visited the apartment on the morning of May 21 and found the boy home alone."

You think maybe ghosts were around him and that counts as being looked after? The police maybe missed the other people in the room?

Disillusioned is saying the same thing I did over and over again but does not get his/her message removed for being offensive and vulgar. Please do not discriminate.

A 6 year old child is not old enough to be left at home alone and working full-time does not absolve her of this responsibility.

The child wasn't left home alone, so what relevance does this comment have?

did you ever consider before posting that comment that the mother probably works full-time?

Umm, I'm sorry Trevor, but regardless of working full-time she is still responsible for her child's well being. A 6 year old child is not old enough to be left at home alone and working full-time does not absolve her of this responsibility.

Also if the bruise was enough for the neighbour to notice and call the police, I'm sure the mother was well aware of it.

Poor little lad. Probably has it pretty bad in life. If I knew who he was I'd take him to Disneyland for the day. Heart bleeds for him...Who hasn't tried to skip doing their homework as a kid? This thug needs a lesson. The mother probably needs a break from work.

JT merely posts the news that gets translated.

JT merely posts the news IT translates. I would be less harsh if they took the effort to follow-up on topics like this that people want to hear the results of.

what is wrong with him, why cant he takes some1 his size and age?

Venging on a 6-year old boy????? what a moron......and did the common-law wife do to protect her common-law son????? still be his common-law wife? WTF u waiting for, uncommon-law him........!!!!

Yubaru: "Dont count on JT for follow-ups, they rarely happen."

You can't blame JT for this; JT merely posts the news that gets translated. No doubt follow-ups can be found in local media (not national, for that matter) if people are truly concerned. Not saying you are bashing JT for it, but others have been of late.

Anyway, two positives, if you can call them that, to come out of this: 1) my heartfelt thanks to the neighbour for noticing the boy's injuries and in particular for alerting the authorities. It takes a lot of courage in a society that usually ignores the problems of neighbours and often waits until the reporters are there getting coverage of where bodies were found to say, "I knew something was wrong," or, "I often saw him, so pail and with bruises. I worried a lot," or, "I often heard screams... it scared me!", etc. So, my hats off to the neighbour for being proactive. 2) They have arrested the guy BEFORE the situation got worse. Usually we read about murder before anything is done. Now it's my hope the mother and son file restraining orders and this man is out of their lives for good. I of course hope he gets prison time for the abuse, but it's hard to tell with so many suspended sentences here.

As for Disillusioned's comments, they might be judgemental, but a whole lot of people rush on here when it's a woman who commits the abuse and demand to know where the father was and/or automatically blame him, so I hope there's no one exercising double standards here in admonishing Disillusioned.

Yubaru: You don't hear of anyone going to jail over it, they all get suspended sentences, even if you kill your family member.

Just because you don't hear of it doesnt mean it does not happen. Dont count on JT for follow-ups, they rarely happen.

People like that make new puke. Guess the death penalty is not such a bad idea after all?

Yubaru: You don't hear of anyone going to jail over it, they all get suspended sentences, even if you kill your family member. There is no punishment for it so no concern for doing it, all you have to say is "I was trying to teach the child manners and they died", say sorry and it's forgotten....

It is so not like the rest of the world!

A neighbor noticed the boy’s bruised face on the afternoon of May 20 and notified police

I am glad the neighbor did something. I wonder though how often the police have been called by people seeing a kid with a black eye or face injury and automatically thinking it is domestic violence. My son has balance issues when he walks and sometimes cuts his face. I sometimes get nervous that people may think otherwise.

Every week there is a story about this? Why is nothing being done about it?

Can't lock up people before they do anything, and dont forget this is a world wide problem not limited to Japan.

@GoGo, 'DomeNo'? How about using Japanese, for a Japanese problem? 家庭内暴力ダメ！

Every week there is a story about this? Why is nothing being done about it?

To do anything in this country why so we need ABK48 to raise concern or make a character up called DomeNo, short for Domestic violence NO for anything to be taken seriously?

Disillusioned..." the mother equally responsible for the assault" ? Really? You need a lesson in logic!

It is a good thing the neighbour called the cops and the cops came. That sort of intervention does not happen often enough here.

There are not enough details? Are you serious? The kid was beaten and left home alone. Whether the mother was working full time or the step-father was a bad choice are totally irrelevant! She must have known the kid was being beaten and that he was left home alone at 6 years old. Whether you bleeding hearts believe it or not, she is equally responsible.

@TrevorPeace

I was about to say the same thing... There are not enough details to immediately blame the mother, who was most probably working. On the other hand, for a so-called "man" to continuously slap a six-year old in the face, that's just crazy...

well done Mr. neighbour, you helped the boy, i hope that the mother and the authority will take care of the child`s safety.

@Dissilusioned, did you ever consider before posting that comment that the mother probably works full-time? And that her boyfriend was a bad choice, not to mention a desperate measure?

Tamura was quoted by police as saying he became furious at the boy after he lied about doing his homework.

What a great reason to brutally beat a child. Boy did that kid have it coming to him. (end of sarcasm). This man is completely and utterly disgusting. Needs to be locked up!

Tamura had been living with his common-law wife and her son since last October.

Sounds more to me like a live in BF than a "common-law-marriage". I also believe that for it to be even considered a common-law-marriage the couple has to be living together for a number years.

The 6 year old kid was home alone when the cops came? It seems this kid's mother is no better than the step-father. One, she failed to report the abuse or protect the kid and two, the kid was left home alone, which more than likely happened very often. They were probably at the local Pachinko hall.

Now Tamura lost his free accommodation and meals..