crime

Mother gets 6 1/2 years in prison over death of 3-month-old daughter

14 Comments

The Saitama District Court has sentenced a 30-year-old woman to 6 1/2 years in prison after she was found guilty of neglecting her 3-month-old daughter and not seeking medical attention, causing her death in September 2020, in Misato, Saitama Prefecture.

Azusa Kanai and her husband Yuki Kanai, 31, were arrested in January 2021 on suspicion of parental neglect resulting in the death of their fourth daughter, Kia, who became malnourished and underweight due to an injury that left her unable to drink milk, Kyodo News reported.

Prosecutors said the parents did not take the daughter to the hospital, which could have prevented her death. An autopsy showed the baby's ribs and other bones were broken.

The Saitama District Court heard that Yuki Kanai, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison after his trial ended last October, admitted to injuring Kia and told police that he didn't seek medical treatment for her because he didn't want to be arrested for abusing her.

During her trial, Azusa said her husband refused to take Kia to a hospital, and she reluctantly obeyed him.

The court heard that when police received a report of a baby crying loudly on Aug 23, 2020, they visited the Kanai home but they did not find that Kia or the other children had been injured.

The officers decided that it was not child abuse but reported the incident to the town government and a local child consultation center.

On Sept 11, Azusa made an emergency call, reporting that Kia's body turned pale. She was showing no vital signs and was later pronounced dead after arriving at the hospital.

The baby was suffering from bacteremia, which resulted in bodily dysfunctions, and her weight was below the average of children of the same age.

The trial lasted nine days and ended Thursday..

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14 Comments
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Better than the two years murderous moms usually get, but not nearly enough. She should get the remainder of what her daughter's life would have been, based on average life expectancy.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

What can they do with people like this? She beat her baby causing multiple broken bones and denied her medical attention which lead to the baby’s death. Is 6.5 years in prison enough of a punishment for such a cruel murder of an innocent baby? Should she spend the rest of her life in a sanitarium for the criminally insane? Should she serve a year in prison after showing remorse? Regardless of the punishment the baby died a cruel and painful death. Nothing will change that fact.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

At release at 36, she can still reproduce

6 ( +6 / -0 )

I can't believe how soft is a penalty over a baby life! in other country's could be 30 years or life sentence!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

For some weird reason the killing of family members in Japan - esp of own children - seems to be seen as less heinous than the "stranger danger" killer.

All murder is terrible, but IMO killing your children who are bonded to you is the far greater crime.

But courts, media and often public opinion doesn't see it that way.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

WOW talking about no justice that will be a 6.5 year vacation. This lady will be old enough to get out of jail and have more babies to neglect. I don't get it, the mother see there is a problem with her child and she doesn't take the child to the hospital to protect the husband because he fear being accused of abuse. Something is wrong with that system, in the US both are locked up for life.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

For some weird reason the killing of family members in Japan - esp of own children - seems to be seen as less heinous than the "stranger danger" killer.

That's pretty ridiculous from my observations of Japan. Do you speak Japanese? What have people said, or which parts of society, make you think people don't consider the killing of children heinous? If it's simply that it happens with regularity, it's failed logic, as people killing their kids unfortunately happens with regularity in nearly every culture.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

WOW talking about no justice that will be a 6.5 year vacation.

Huh? Do you not understand what prison is? What a ridiculous statement.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

When her husband refused to drive their child to hospital, she the mother, reluctantly obayed him. How could a mother be so heartless towards their very sick, very young daughter in danger of death be reluctant to allow the father of their daughter who is in danger of death to drive her to the hospital? Her reluctance proves she is also guilty of their toddler child's suffering and death.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@strangerland

Thanks for your reply.

Yes I speak Japanese and have discussed this topic a few years back with advanced English students.

The topic came up because of a case in my city, where a mother slowly starved her younger daughter to death (age 6) because she felt no love her. The child's grandmother who lived with them also colluded in the neglect. Her other children were not subject to the same treatment.

What a horrible agonizing death. What confusion and despair the child must have felt that her own mother thought of her as trash.

Was the city in uproar over the murder? Did the media go into a frenzy? Did the story get the microscope treatment by the city, the police, the school, the neighbours? Did the 2 women get sentenced? No.

But as a comparison, at a similar time, an abduction of a young girl and her brutal murder in another prefecture drew headlines for ages - as rightly so it should have.

If you'd care to look back over the years you would find that similar reactions often exist.

And sorry - nowhere did I say that people think child murder is not heinous. Check closely.

And re failed logic and the regularity of killing children globally - well you lost me on that.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The Saitama District Court has sentenced a 30-year-old woman to 6 1/2 years in prison...

The Saitama District Court heard that Yuki Kanai, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison...

At least they weren't followed by the words "suspended for xx years...", which is all too often the case here.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The Saitama District Court heard that Yuki Kanai, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison after his trial ended last October, admitted to injuring Kia and told police that he didn't seek medical treatment for her because he didn't want to be arrested for abusing her.

And jus how is that working out for you now?

That poor baby! Man............I can't imagine putting a baby through that type of pain and ignoring her cries just for my selfish reasons! 10 years isn't enough! Put them in prison until the deceased baby celebrates her 18th birthday! (I know)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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