Couple who put 6-year-old girl in washing machine overnight had history of abuse

According to police, the couple forced the girl to remember over 20 behavioral rules, including saying “itadakimasu” before eating and remembering to eat slowly.

Good intentions (not the list part), but throwing a kid in a washing machine is totally wrong. They shouldn't have had the kid at 18 in the first place.

The couple, who have been identified as 24-year-old Mariko Hayashi and 26-year-old Keiji Fujii

by the way, they are the girl's biological mother and the mother's boyfriend living together..

can anyone imagine being put in the washer over night? this is just beyond normal people's imagination...

I think it is about time that J parents had to obtain a license before being granted permission to become parents. Oh yeah, just like a driving license it has to be renewed every 3 years... If they fail to qualify, take their children away from them.

If you are a normal parent (compassionate, loving and caring) you will not need to worry, as renewal will be a formality (after interviewing the children of course)...

Clearly from the all too frequent 'shocking' news reports something drastic needs to be done. My heart feels very heavy & sad thinking about the pain and misery these poor little children have to endure.

This little baby must have been so scared and crying like crazy. Two sick people should be put away for life.

Meanwhile, Hayashi told police, “Using violence to discipline children is completely normal.”

Sounds like this woman was an abused child and is passing on her mother's abuse to her child.

There are devils amongst us.

“Using violence to discipline children is completely normal.”

Using his reasoning, we should all head to Miyazu and beat this child-man.

Gag them, tie their hands, beat them and throw them in an American sized garbage can for the night. And repeat as necessary.

Because if “Using violence to discipline children is completely normal" then using violence to discipline child abusers should also be completely normal.

I would love to get my hand around the throats of these 2 Kyoto scums and since they think violence is completely NORMAL, well I am sure I can help them out. I do not know if these 2 are just idiots, or if they like pain, but they have NO RIGHT being parents. I feel so sorry for this little girl, I hate saying ITADAKIMASU, and now I hate it more after reading this horrible news.

sad!

I hate saying ITADAKIMASU, and now I hate it more after reading this horrible news.

Me too. I hate it and don't say it.

The best way to teach manners and politeness to your child is by example, not by trying to beat it into them.

and this mother actually has ANOTHER child (this girl's younger sister). i hope this little one will be taken away from the monster mom and the guy.

the day the girl went unconscious, the couple was beating her up for over an hour because the girl ate dinner too fast. they put the girl in a different room with dinner, told her to eat slow. When they peeked in the room later on, the girl had already finished the dinner and they got angry, started beating her up until she was unconscious. this isn't discipline.. the girl experienced hell.. the couple should be put in jail for the rest of their lives and never see the sunshine again.

These are two sadists... Recycle.

these parents are crazy and psychopathic they should be hang

What a moron Mariko Hayashi is.

Hayashi told police, “Using violence to discipline children is completely normal.”

This is not discipline this has crossed the line from discipline to child abuse, I have 2 children of my own and I would never ever have done this type of abuse to them. If you want them to do certain things before you start to eat and they make a mistake have them do it over again, this is just wrong on so many levels.

This is why some people should never bred.

tragic

Perhaps not the right time for that other article on the washing machine with these sorry excuse for humans

If you think this story is sad, wait until you see what the Japanese Judicial Courts do. The courts will just give the parents a slap on the hand and will actually give back the kid to them. I don't know just how many cases of this type it will take until the Judicial System wakes up an starts putting their sicko parents in jail and never let these parents near them again.

take that poor child away from these sick monsters!

elbudamexicano - well said.

These people should be forbidden from ever taking care of anyone or anything, from goldfish right up to old people and children.

It does however make me wonder about these people's past. Often victims of abuse become abusers.

As in this case some of them are so twisted up inside that they don't even realise what they're doing is wrong. These people really do need help if there's ever any hope of them returning to civilised society. Even if they lock them away for 20 years with hard labour they'll just go in as 24 and 26 year old abusers and come out as 44 and 46 year old abusers.

It does however make me wonder about these people's past. Often victims of abuse become abusers.

What a load of crap! When I was a child, my step-father would beat the crap out of me for simple things I did wrong! But not once have I ever felt the urge or desire to abuse my children because of my past!

The couple wasn't arrested for putting the girl in the washing machine over night. They were arrested for beating up the girl (the girl is still unconscious and is in hospital). Later on the couple told the police that they had put the girl in the washer before but this wasn't the reason why they got arrested.

The couple has another child and they used to beat her up but they said that the 6-year-old girl had the attitude and didn't like that. The day this girl was beaten up and became unconscious, the couple did not give her lunch.. the poor girl was so hungry that she ate dinner quickly in a room alone --- when the couple peeked in the room, the girl had already finished eating (of course.. she was very very hungry) and they beat her up for eating quickly until she became unconscious.

This article should state that the girl is in a critical condition.

Parents were 18 and 20 when they had a child. On the Western 10 year age curve that applies to Japanese maturity thats like an 8 year old and a 10 year old deciding to raise a child. Small wonder this happened.

KaptainKichigai - the guy isn't the girl's biological father. they lived together but he wasn't even officially married to the mother.

Youdontknow at 04:19 PM JST - 27th October What a load of crap! When I was a child, my step-father would beat the crap out of me for simple things I did wrong! But not once have I ever felt the urge or desire to abuse my children because of my past!

Hence the word, "often", rather than the word, "always". The overall pattern is that between 12% to 44% of those who have been abused are likely to become abusers, while those who witnessed abuse are 3 times more like than normal to become abusers. In other words, those who have been abused are far more likely to become abusers than those who have not.

Proper therapy has been shown to reduce the risk by as much as 4 times, although other mental problems are common amongst abuse survivors. One that leaps to mind is a symptom of post traumatic stress, hyper-arousal (not in a sexual sense, but rather in the sense of a hair-trigger fight/flight reaction), with the person perceiving threats where there are none and reacting inappropriately to stimuli, for example someone reacting angrily to a neutral forum post.

These adults are the scum of the earth - deriving gratification through abusing and bullying a child. Let's all hope they are imprisoned for minimum 30 years - and are not allowed ANY further contact with the child. I hope the poor girl recovers.

few years ago, one day i lock my 6 years Old daughter in bathroom coz she always had problem in eating, she used to hate any kinda food. But only 3 minutes i feel sorry to her and i hug her. When i heard this news i guess what kinda heart these parents are made up of. All night inside machine. Children takes time to learn......

Unfortunately I have talked to adults who were abused as kids and many of them said their parents said "this is education this is not abuse". I sometimes feel some Japanese don't know the difference between abuse and teaching someone a lesson.

You can teach someone a lesson without violence and without humiliating them. Unfortunately it was OK for teachers to use violence in class not so long ago. If teachers can do it then it must be OK for parents too. There needs to be more discussion in school about what is right and what is wrong. It seems like some people have a hard time understanding the difference.

And I bet they are allowed to keep custody of the kids. Sad.

Proper therapy has been shown to reduce the risk by as much as 4 times, although other mental problems are common amongst abuse survivors. One that leaps to mind is a symptom of post traumatic stress

This is correct, I myself suffer from post tramatic stress dissorder, but I have NEVER beat my children, and horrid monsterous people like this should never see the light of day, as a mother I'm ashamed of that mother... How on earth could you allow some man to bat your child, and how could you abuse an innocent child. In America, people often face 25 to 30 years for this kind of indecency, but therapy is the true solution to such kinds of people, I mayself will say I benifited greatly from therapy, I have a whole new out look, and can't believe this, when you witness abuse you should remember how it made you feel, and that shoud be enough not to do it.

I was expecting to read about the couple's own tales of abuse history. Themselves.

KanuUnchou at 10:32 PM JST - 27th October but therapy is the true solution to such kinds of people, I mayself will say I benifited greatly from therapy, I have a whole new out look, and can't believe this, when you witness abuse you should remember how it made you feel, and that shoud be enough not to do it.

True.

These people need to be put away for a good long time, but they also need serious therapy to make sure that when they come out they're fit to re-enter society. Without therapy they should just execute them because it's less cruel on them and on society, because they'll just do it again otherwise.

The problem is that in Japan particularly (but in other countries too) the courts consider their job done when they've put them away. It's ridiculous. That's not solving the problem, that's just delaying it.

Japan needs to wise up and start properly training and certifying mental health professionals to work in schools, hospitals, prisons and police stations... wherever they might have contact with someone who's been physically or sexually abused. Without therapy these people have a much higher risk of abusing others, continuing the cycle. With therapy these people can come to see the true face of abuse, reject it and stop the cycle.

Japan needs to wise up and start properly training and certifying mental health professionals to work in schools, hospitals, prisons and police stations... wherever they might have contact with someone who's been physically or sexually abused.

I so agree, iv been sexually abused, and I know people who have been, it really messes up most people who don't know haw to over come it or have the proper support, and prison only creates better criminals.

Honestly we are sent wondering what sort of parents are these.

Some years back we took in a 5 yr old girl, & actually a cousin of mine, till her mother got things back to normal.

True she has this habit of eating faster then us to also mouth open fully when chewing. ONLY suggestion of two from parents myself was ALL that was needed.

Never once did the girl need to be given a smack or scoled mentally. After all she knew she was in a much better then her home in past years.

Meanwhile, Hayashi told police, “Using violence to discipline children is completely normal.”

I am waiting for you right-wingers, come on now, to come out and say, "yes, this is right." Come on now. I am waiting!

It's just unfathomable that some people could do such horrible things to a child. Japan--please start teaching young people the difference between disciplining a kid and child abuse!! This education needs to start NOW!

Hm, scary! What I don't understand though, is why the article seemed to focus on the fact that they had the girl say thanks for her meal and to eat slowly.

including saying “itadakimasu” before eating and remembering to eat slowly

In an article such as this, I would expect the things that they listed to be the most horrible examples of unreasonable expectations. I think most Japanese parents teach their children to say and do this act. Of course, I'm sure that most parents DON'T force their children to memorize those rules, which is what the article SHOULD have focused on!

jonobugs at 10:57 PM JST - 28th October Hm, scary! What I don't understand though, is why the article seemed to focus on the fact that they had the girl say thanks for her meal and to eat slowly.

The point is that these small rituals are actually quite unimportant in the grand scheme of things, they're decorative; yet the punishments inflicted resulted in life-threatening harm.

This is pretty much the exact opposite of normal punishment mentality. Normally you only use physical punishment when what the child is doing could cause life-threatening harm (e.g. trying to run into traffic, playing with a sharp knife, etc), and then the punishment is decorative (a short sharp yell, a smack on the wrist, etc) and the intent isn't to cause pain the intent is to get their attention so they listen to the warning not to do that again.

I think that's what they're trying to get at. That the pattern is normally decorative punishment for life-threatening behavior, where here it's life-threatening punishment for decorative behavior.

In other words these people lacked any connection to reality or any understanding of why parents punish children.

Frungy is correct, your missing the point.