Police on Sunday arrested a 29-year-old woman for attempting to murder her 5-year-old son with hydrogen sulfide gas on May 6 in Karatsu City, Saga Prefecture. Nobody was hurt in the incident.
Harue Baba, 29, was arrested for allegedly attempting to kill her son with hydrogen sulfide gas in a closet on the second floor of her mother's house around 12:20 p.m. after she called police saying she was going to kill her son and then herself.
According to police, Baba broke up with her boyfriend whom she had been dating since her husband died. She was quoted by police as saying, “I tried to kill my son and myself, but when he started crying, I couldn't go through with it and took him away from the gas.”
Police said two neighboring families had to be evacuated temporarily due to the gas but nobody was hurt.
© Japan Today
18 Comments
Login to comment
KitsuneYoukai
It started with people killing themselves and now they are using it to commit murder. Very scarey.
Triple888
Have to say Japanese people have some of the most unusual crimes ever reported.
pandachan
Now this is just sad. It shouldn't matter how depressed you are over your husband's death and then later your boyfriend leaving you. Why would you try to kill your helpless child?
usaexpat
I'm just glad she couldn't go thorugh with it. I will never understand how a parent can hurt their own child.
openyoureyes
i agree she shouldn't be let off the hook. just curious as to what actual laws she will be charged with breaking.
LFRAgain
Reckless endangerment of a child's life. Violation of child welfare laws. Intent to commit murder (yes, intent, particularly when one acts upon it, is still a crime, regardless of being successful or not). Creating a public nuisance. The manufacture of dangerous chemicals with the intent to do bodily harm. That's the short list.
This woman, despite any hardships she may be facing, decided to try and escape those problems in a manner that endangered the lives of a lot of people around her. She should receive psychiatric attention, yes, but she shouldn't be let off the hook criminally just because she turned herself in.
Ah_so
If there is not a law to cover locking a child in a cupboard with poisonous gas, Japan's legal system is in a worse state that I feared!
openyoureyes
yes, but is this actually illegal? she called the police and told them of her intent to commit a crime (murder/suicide), but she didn't actually carry it out.
perhaps she could get a bit of punishment for endangering the neighbors with toxic gas, but no one was hurt and she removed her son from danger herself.
she obviously needs some sort of psychological help... but what law did she break?
spudman
Lucky kid, sad mum. Hope it works out for them in the future. Poor kid has lost both parents now!
presidentbaka
Why sell these goods in the first place? I mean, how can anything toxic be good for cleaning the home? That's why I use Melaleuca products - non-toxic, safe for kids and saves me money!
Altria
Can't ban it son, people are making the stuff by mixing common household cleaners.
Hughgarse
there was a press release last week about how hydrogen sulfide is now the choice of topping in Japan.. heres a crazy idea.. Ban it!!! Or at least try to have it controlled to a point where any Jo Blow cant get their hands on it..
Fair dinkum!
This crap has somehow gotta be stopped. 50 people took their own lives last month with this gas. The saddest thing is, even if the sale of these products was restricted (if possible) these desperados would find another way to end their life. The Jp gov really has got to get on top this suicide epidemic and try to educate people. Romulus3 mentioned "cracks in Japan's mental health system". Cracks?!?! I think a closer metaphoric analogy would be, The Grand Canyon!
romulus3
very sad. she must have unresolved trauma from her husbands death. Obviously another who has slipped through the cracks of Japans mental health system. I am happy however that she did not manage to kill her son. one would imagine that she bombed the recipe.
TheguyNextdoor
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..................
rjd_jr
I totally agree, it was only a matter of time....
lipscombe
it was only a matter of time before we saw this headline
himasan
Stories like these have been done to death, pun intended