Man gets 9 years for killing his 3-year-old stepson in 2015

Police said he told them that Eichi was nothing but an obstacle in the couple’s lives.

So sad. Only nine years for murder? Guess he didn't mean much to the court either.

2 things he had going for him for getting only 9 years: Only one person was killed and the person killed was a child. Children have low priority here. If it was a baby though, it would have been half the sentence.

At least it's a custodial and not a suspended sentence. Poor child.

The court heard that at the time of his death, Eichi had nearly 40 bruises and other wounds on his body, including cigarette burns.

poor child. he only got to live 3 years and by and large they were hell. -40 bruises and other wounds on his body, including cigarette burns- I'm speechless. I hug and kiss my toddler son every day to show him how much I love him. This little guy got nothing of the love he should have. and the bastard who made his life both short and hell only gets 9 years.

he told them that Eichi was nothing but an obstacle in the couple’s lives

and YOU are nothing but an obstacle for decent hardworking people. They should have given you the electric chair you son of a B. You deserve nothing less.

Tortured to death and he only gets NINE YEARS?

@ Aly - I'm with you 100% about this guy.

I hug and kiss my toddler son every day to show him how much I love him.

Don't ever stop.

Ah, the belljar verdict is in. A woman in the US got 40 years the other day for the murder of her child. In Japan we're seeing a higher than normal sentence at NINE years. That's how much a human family member's life is worth here.

Where I am from, the murder of a child is considered worse than the murder of an adult. This may be a cultural thing, but sadistic murders are always considered utterly evil.

What I cannot understand in any sense is how the murder of a child, paticularly a sadistic one, could be considered less than the murder of a child.

It is usually through the law that I appreciate that Japan is a very foreign country, which has very different cultural assumptions at its core. Ones which I will never understand and never like.

This Creep only gets 9 years for killing his own Son, something wrong with this Justice System, he should have got LIFE!

@ Aly - I'm with you 100% about this guy.

Thanks brother

I hug and kiss my toddler son every day to show him how much I love him. Don't ever stop.

Not a chance in hell

for fatally abusing his 3-year-old stepson

Why do they say it like that? Just call it what it is, murder most foul.

The guy admitted killing the stepson and also said the stepson was nothing but an obstacle in their lives.....and gets only 9 years?!?! You've got to be kidding!!! What was the rationale for such a short sentence!?!? Unreal

having some trouble conceiving, this stuff breaks my heart.. what is so terribly broken in these people to have them treat children in these ways.

Only 9 years? Where is the justice?!?!?

Tokyo-Engr: "and gets only 9 years?!?! You've got to be kidding!!! What was the rationale for such a short sentence!?!?"

TIJ

"Japanese media reports that Eichi was Mika's child and that he was living in an institution before Mika married Wataru. The couple declared they wanted to raise him and poor little Eichi went to live with his mother and stepfather only three months before he died"

So it appears that the marriage was a sham and the only reason was so that the man who was ten years older than the mother could take the boy from the institution to abuse and murder him, while pocketing the child support payments.

So it appears that the marriage was a sham

Where are you getting that from?

Maybe just maybe if they actually gave lengthy prison sentences to convicted people it would deter others from committing serious crimes! It seems like you can commit almost any crime in Japan and all you have to do is show remorse and pretend to be sorry and get a short or suspended sentence.

The common theme in all of these cases involving parents / guardians and children is that it is a family matter involving minors.

I cannot explain it, but Japanese courts will give stiffer but still lenient sentences to those that kill an adult in a one time event, than they do to those that kill minors, even those that they have repeatedly abused.

Japanese courts have very little regard for the murder of minors, it would seem.

Maybe just maybe if they actually gave lengthy prison sentences to convicted people it would deter others from committing serious crimes!

No, it wouldn't. But better justice would be done.

Can't read anymore. I have to go and hug my son now......

This is probably the thing I hate the most about this country. The light sentences given to child murderers.

Twenty years of this and I've stopped being shocked. But the feeling of disgust continues.

An eye for an eye, if only his punishment could be the same as what he/it dished out. May karma be real!!!

poor sentence. 9 years for abuse and killing a life. death penalty more fitted in

So this scum will be out in his early 40s. Should have made it 90 years in a 2mx2m cell.

9 years is a joke, and the court should be ashamed

That poor baby. He did nothing to this fiend. His excuse for doing it just sickens me.

That's the age of my son... evil parents

That's how much a human family member's life is worth here.

Unfortunately, in most parts of the world, it is true. In the U.S., people who cause the death of a child through abuse and/or neglect receive up to 40% shorter sentences than if an adult was killed. There are even cases where such abuse and death cases go unreported:

http://projects.statesman.com/news/cps-missed-signs/undercounting.html

9 years? Only 9 years? Wow!

Why only 9 years? Why not death like he did to his stepson?