Prosecutors on Monday called for a sentence of three years for a 31-year-old woman charged with fatally abusing her 6-year-old daughter in 2012.
In their closing arguments before the Yokohama District Court, prosecutors said that Yukie Yamaguchi and her former boyfriend Ryuichi Yatsui, 29, fatally beat Yamaguchi's daughter Airi and then buried her body in a forest.
During their separate trials, Yamaguchi and Yatsui blamed each other for Airi's death.
The court heard that Airi was registered to attend an elementary school, but when she didn't show up on the first day of school in February 2013, the school asked to see her, but Yamaguchi refused. The school then contacted the child consultation center who reported the incident to police, TBS reported.
The remains of Airi's body were discovered in April, 2013, based on Yamaguchi's confession.
Yatsui testified that Airi died after Yamaguchi hit and kicked her to discipline her, but Yamaguchi said that Yatsui also used to hit Airi. Yatsui said they both decided to bury Airi's body in the forest.
Yatsui was sentenced to eight years in prison at his trial earlier this month.
© Japan Today
33 Comments
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combinibento
Killed her, hid the body, and apparently no sign of remorse. And yet prosecutors can still only demand a sentence which is less than your average drug dealer gets.
turbotsat
3 years and 8 years for murder seem kind of minimal. Especially of a child.
Okinawamike
I'm thinking life and sterilization would be a little bit of a better sentence.
Too beat and mistreat a 6 year old (anyone) over a period of time take a special kind of monster.
sensei258
Are you frikken kidding me? You murder your kid and only get three years (maybe less for good behavior). There's something seriously wrong with the "justice" system in Japan.
Silvafan
Prosecutors just want a conviction. They only care about their personal success rate. They are not going to push for sentence that might be rejected by the court or inconvenience the court by extending the trial. These prosecutors want to be judges, so they will follow the status quo. The defense and prosecutors agree on the sentence before talking to the judge.
The defendants will learn nothing but the courts will feel like they did there job and the prosecutor's record stays perfect.
semperfi
turbotsat
AGREED. . . . . . Japan for all ts oretences at being a developed: nation in keeping with the other G7 countries, lags FAR FAR behind in legislation around CHILD ABUSE and the neglect and murder of children by their parents . . . .It is unconscionable . . .The message is : "Kids are disposable". . . .3 years is a slap on the wrist.
BurakuminDes
@ timtak - there was no "palpable love and care" shown for this poor little child - either from her so-called parents - or the legal system.
NathalieB
THREE YEARS???!!!
Mirai Hayashi
Stupid laws are too sympathetic to the murder and not the victim.
Damien15
"People get more for using drugs in this country."
This needs serious attention and comparison. One of the worst things one can do is to kill a child. Taking away a young life by beating to death. And comparing that to a victimeless crime, where one is doing only to himself/herself. What kind of logic allows child killers to get away with less of a punishment from the ones commiting victimeless crimes. Why is everything upside down in this country?
Gobshite
Get more than 3 years for stealing a car, ridiculous
BurakuminDes
As Ive long asked : who is looking after the kids here? Certainly not the legal system, which considers the life of a child to be of lesser value than an adult. 3 years and 8 years for beating and torturing a defenceless little girl to death is sickening. Rest in peace little Angel.
tmarie
Three years????? For abusing, killing and then tossing away a child like she was garbage? Japan is NOT safe for kids and this is a joke. Life for both of them. People get more for using drugs in this country.
Yasuki Jason Yamamoto
What !? How come only three years?
therougou
Lets not try to glorify murder. This woman should not get a lesser sentence just because she is a "mother".
smithinjapan
So, why does she get three years and the boyfriend eight when the only 'proof' the court has that one or the other actually killed her by blows is them blaming each other? If anything the mother should get more because she ALLOWED this to happen to her child, and clearly participated it, including the abandonment of a corpse. In any case, both sentences (if she gets the three years) are further proof of how messed up the system here is. Had they been caught with marijuana it could be 10 years in the klink, but murdering your own kid? ah, three is fine.
Ms. Alexander
Is that what the prosecutor's think the child's life was worth? Three years??? Fricking insane!!! Where is the justice in this??
therougou
Haven't followed this closely, but they make it sound like Yamaguchi was the main abuser, and Yatsui sometimes hit her, or maybe hit her an equal amount. So why would she get less time than him? Either way, the sentences are a joke.
sensei258
@ Silvafan - Your comment was spot-on. Time for the judges to step up.
khulifi
3 years only for a child murder ...!!! Oh my god , that sentence encourage more child abuse and murders
kaimycahl
3 years in jail they spent almost half the time waiting for the trial! Sad thats a slap on the wrist they will get out and have a normal life as if nothing ever happen! May the little princess rest peacefully now!
nath
For child abuse where the child dies, there should be a minimum 10-year imprisonment. And that should be the bare minimum, say for mothers in domestic violence situations where they didn't stop the other parent from hurting the child.
Dennis Bauer
3 times 8 years for both is better and parenting license revoked!
Disillusioned
They both should be serving at least ten years. It's sad to see so many kids being abused and killed by their parents. Life in Japan is tough enough for kids without their parents turning on them too.
Fadamor
The way I'm reading the article, the man was sentenced to 8 years for the murder and the woman was sentenced to three years for being an accomplice after the fact. The man may be claiming that the woman also abused the daughter, but apparently he has never claimed the woman was the one who killed the child.
nath
Poor little girl she suffered so much . The parents may have gotten a light sentence but God will not be so lenient on them
nath
Money says she'll get credit for time already served, will be placed on Japan's version of probation, and will be outta' the klink inside a year-and-a-half. What a flippin', words-that-I-won't-say tragedy and travesty of justice. I agree with Mennonite Maiden 100%: it's "cases" like this that make Japan sorta' behind the times. This woman should go to the chair, or whatever Japan's death penalty method is....
Michael Net Work
In Japan, the lawyers do not work cases like they do in America. In Japan, the lawyers are really good with paperwork. Not much in terms of trail law.
nath
While I really don't care about getting down votes (if I did, I would have stopped posting ages ago), I'm genuinely surprised someone down-voted my comment.
Sasuga
3 years, is it a small robbery or trespassing? This is a brutal murder of a 6 yr old child. Capital punishment or Lifeterm is what the prosecutors should ask for.
tmarie
What kind of logic allows child killers to get away with less of a punishment from the ones commiting victimeless crimes.
Because kids here are seen as property of the parents and have very little rights. Many police will not intervene and child services often won't remove the child from an abusive home if the parents plea that they will stop. There have been articles on here about "orphanages" and the like and what these parents get away with. It's criminal but until child welfare laws here change, parents can kill their kids and the judge will think they have "suffered enough" and get a suspended sentence.
timtak
Japan is one of the safest countries in the world for kids. Japanese parents sleep with their children, Japanese people man the streets in such force to make it safe for children to walk to school, whole neighbourhoods queue from the early hours of the morning for places at school exercise days, parents put so much effort into allowing their children extra curricula educational opportunities, towns and house prices are structured by school catchment areas. Perhaps the leniency of the justice system especially towards parents, helps promote the palpable love, care and attention directed towards children in Japan.