A nine-year-old boy was fatally stabbed at his family’s apartment in Fukuoka on Wednesday night. The boy’s mother was also found with stab wounds in what police believe was a murder-suicide attempt.
According to police, the boy’s older brother ran to their next-door apartment in the building in Hakata Ward at around 7:40 p.m. and said his mother had stabbed his younger brother, Fuji TV reported. The neighbor called 110.
When police arrived, they found the boy, Yuto Tao, unconscious and bleeding from a knife wound. He was taken to hospital where he died about one hour later. His mother was also found with a knife wound to her neck, which is not life-threatening, doctors said.
Police suspect the woman stabbed Yuto and then tried to kill herself, but added they will wait until she recovers before questioning her. The woman's husband was out at the time.
© Japan Today
17 Comments
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Mr Kipling
When will these people learn that stabbing yourself to death in the neck is quite difficult.
snowymountainhell
“Rest in Peace” innocent child and “Condolences” to the now confused & grieving father and surviving older brother. May there be a speedy justice for the mother and rehabilitation for the surviving family.
snowymountainhell
Today’s account of the continuing trend of Intra-family violence in Japan.
Mr Kipling
Lamilly...
I guess this mother definitely had a "favorite".
RareReason
Are we, perchance, going to hear any of the usual noise about post partum depression and/or how difficult it is to raise children in one of the most advanced and well developed economies of the world?
snowymountainhell
Acknowledging both of your points, postpartum depression can be a issue for new mothers and, possibly, affect them for years @RareReason 6:28pm. (But this child was nine years old ??)
Are you also claiming that Japan is severely lacking adequate mental health support for families in crisis, particularly their women ?RareReason
@snowymountainhell
I can speak from first hand experience that Japan is quite well equipped for mental health support of women, and the staff were very compassionate and supportive to all of us friends and family who were clueless what to do.
Rather we should say that Japan is, by culture, overly proud and afraid of shame, bullying, discrimination, appearances... etc to ask for help or seek it. This includes the shame of having a family member that requires help.
Yasuragi
Lamilly
Tragic. How can a mother do that and why only one of her sons?
Motherhood isn't a magic spell that makes someone a good, sane person.
Likely, she was planning on killing both and the older one escaped before she could.
snowymountainhell
Relieved to here @RareReason 7:20pm that your families experiences went well.
Also, agree about Japan’s cultural stigmas, and therefore, reluctance to seek help. But can the same ‘advanced’ society not see the ongoing, perhaps increasing trend of intra-family violence and tragedies of depression and desperation?
This kind of daily “crime”, in what should be ‘the safest of environments’ in Japan, the family “home”, is indeed alarming.
ReynardFox
This is called an ‘anecdote’, and while I’m glad you have found mental health care easy to find and access, your experience is certainly not universal.
Mark
Heartless, RIP little one.
WA4TKG
It ain’t like in “The Movies”
thetoleratedone
They all pretend to suicide. She will be back with the brother and father soon go about life as normal now the the nest is a little more cheap to keep. They should not be allied with us with this sort of abuses towards children. It is an abuse of human rights tolerated by the country and condoned and so they are complicit to it
thetoleratedone
I live in Fukuoka too would be happy to sacrifice my life as a sign of love to children and a mere precedent and present towards justice that these precious pernicious industrialised peasants seem so far above
602miko
My gosh, crazy woman what is wrong with her if she wanted to do suicidal then don't bring his son to death?