The Yamagata District Court on Monday sentenced an 18-year-old woman to between three and four years in prison for fatally abusing her 16-day-old daughter after she and her husband placed the infant in a garbage bag, causing her to suffocate to death, at their home in Yonezawa in May, 2015.
The court heard that the defendant, who was 17 at the time and who cannot be named because she is a minor, and her husband, Yoshimi Suzuki, then 22, put their daughter Misora in a garbage bag and then placed a trash can over the bag in their bedroom at around 10 p.m. on May 7, 2015, Fuji TV reported. The trash can was 20 cms high and 20 cms in diameter.
Later on, Suzuki noticed that his daughter wasn't moving and called 119. She was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead two hours later. The hospital notified police.
The couple, who were both unemployed at the time, admitted to the charge and said they did it because Misora was crying really loudly while they were trying to play video games. The woman told the court that she and her husband didn't think their daughter would die and that they just wanted to quieten her down.
Suzuki, now 24, was tried separately and sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison on May 31.
© Japan Today
43 Comments
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Zaphod
"The couple, who were both unemployed at the time, admitted to the charge and said they did it because Misora was crying really loudly while they were trying to play video games. "
.... that sentence is just... I can´t find words.
DickTaterTots
Wait....if we're gonna raise the penalties for rape can we also raise them for murdering your own kid as well?
Addfwyn
She's a minor who committed manslaughter, she shouldn't be sterilized or given the death penalty for that. Nor should she get life in jail, we don't make legal decisions based on emotion, thankfully.
One can argue with the definitions of minor or manslaughter all you want, but within the definitions that currently apply, she was given the correct punishment. Punishment for manslaughter for a non-minor is already ten years or less, a minor getting about half that seems about right. Logically speaking, she got exactly the punishment that she deserved.
For those who are incredulous over a 17 year old being married, women can be married as young as 16 in Japan. 18 for men. Doesn't make you not a minor.
Mkun0270
My job has put me in the company of people like this and it's my opinion that there's a belief in this culture that all of life's rewards are available to everyone, and everyone needs the same (as much or as little) guidance. Behind these two failures are two sets of parents who failed them.
nickstery
I guess their young age and potential foolishness was a factor in this case. It might be that the Japanese system wants to give young people like them a 2nd chance. RIP new born baby, may they never ever forget how stupid they were for doing something so stupid.
Myhumbletake
Sterilization?? What's wrong with people? If you think coercitive actions could straighten individuals then you are not better than this couple. May the poor baby finally rest in peace.
smithinjapan
Good old parenting and the value of life in Japan!
Giveme_abreak
They should not publicize how many years those people will be put to jail because of the next wacko will probably think that 3-4 yrs is not big-a-deal for killing your own flesh and blood. And what really gets me is that these people have no remorse in putting their own kid in danger.
Ah_so
Shouting "serialise them" is a fun childish thing to do but about as sophisticated and asinine as sharing some feelgood statement on Facebook.
Grow up.
She is going to prison for the equivalent of manslaughter. It should have been longer, but it was not murder. And we are not going to hang them or sterilise them.
mtuffizi
playing video game was more important to calm the baby down? brainless, heartless. why even pregnant to begin with?
Clare Yoshida
I remember this story, RIP little Misora-chan. The sad thing is a 2-week old just sleeps all the time anyway, you just feed them and they pass out asleep; plenty of time for video games if you really have to play. Such shitty selfish parents, 3-4 years isn't enough.
sensei258
Murder a baby, and only get three years, par for the course in Japan where children are considered property, not life forms
Peter Qinghai
Everyone who has lived in Japan longer than one year knows the justice system is ... 'different'.
So, why are you surprised?
The native-born masses need to rise up and voice their dissent to the skewed system.
Griping here accomplishes ... nothing but frustration for those that do.
Actions speak louder than words.
Be an instrument of change, not a tool of the status-quo.
Nobusaki
Another innocent life cut short by negligent parents.
Seriously, Japan. THIS HAPPENS FAR TOO OFTEN IN A FIRST WORLD COUNTRY!
Ronald Hassem
what video game where they playing
Mirai Hayashi
They need to spayed and neutered.
Kapuna
"I don't understand what's wrong with the Japanese legal system!" There is nothing wrong with it. It's their system.
rocketpanda
Throw away the key. To just disregard a helpless little life into a garbage bag. I don't think any other animal other than man could be so cruel.
Take away a life, you get a few years. Steal money or defrauding, you'll probably get double the sentence.
Jurgen Bagtong
locking them up for 4 years?They should be given life sentence though!
DaDude
I understand her sentencing because she is a minor yada yada yada. What is missing from this article is the judge's reasoning on why the adult husband got such a short time and how many years the prosecution was seeking.
Any judge with such a cold heart has no idea what it is like to be a father nor has compassion towards children.
Aly Rustom
babies are supposed to cry you stupid cows! Feed her, change her, then hold her until she sleeps then go back and play your stupid games.
As a loving father of a 8 month old boy, I am sick to my stomach. Misora deserved better than these two cockroaches.
EroJiji
disturbing and shocking. makes me sick.
HollisBrown
Married, but still a minor.
4.5 years in prison for killing a baby.
2 parents thought putting a baby in a garbage bag AND inside a trash can was a suitable response to their baby crying.Yet another summary of how backward Japan still is.
rainyday
While I defin don't support sterilization, this is a pretty low sentence for such a horrific murder.
kurisupisu
Is life really considered that cheap in Japan?
4 years?
Ian Robertson
Agree wholeheartedly with the comments about Japan's justice sytem - what a joke!
clueless
She committed an "adult" crime. She must have known her actions were wrong. She should be tried as an adult. This murderer will be out on the streets with a clean record before she is twenty.
What about her future husband to be? Doesn't he have a right to know who she is? And what she is capable of doing should they both have a child?
Something is seriously wrong with the idea of justice here folks!
TheGodfather
So according to "the parents" it was not MURDER because it was not INTENTIONAL, so according to the Japanese court it is not PREMEDITATED MURDER but only FATAL ABUSE.
Meanwhile, back in the real world...
redfender
Unbelieveable penalty... ??? HUH ???
gogogo
THIS IS BS! Why 3-4 years? This is pure evil, selfishness and the worst ****ing sentence I have ever read... you twice the time in jail for stealing pekochan! But kill you own defenceless daughter!? I have no faith in justice in Japan.
FernGully
4 years for murdering a baby.... The Japanese justice system is so messed up.
Hmmmmmm
The female life expectancy in Japan is 87 years. This is what the murderers sentence should be.87 years.Only 3-4 years. What a joke !!
MarkG
Only 3-4 years! Sterilization is justified. Babies are more important Han Grand Theft Auto!
DenTok2009
So she went through the pregnancy without really giving a thought to being a mother; what mother prioritizes playing video games over taking care of a crying 16 day old baby? As for the father, instead of pounding the pavement for a job to provide for his family or cuddling his baby girl because she's crying, chooses to place his daughter in a garbage bag then over it because she's crying... well... he's not cut out to be a daddy.
Michael Werker
Wow... 3-4 years? Thats hardly enough. How about life? A life was taken from a child. I don't believe for a second they didn't know the child would die. It's just common sense! Maybe they don't want to admit it to themselves but it was murder and on purpose on top. Anybody who murders their own child (or anybody elses) should never see the outside of a prison again.
Matthew Simon
You know that forced sterilization was popular in Nazi Germany for un-desirables and criminals. I think they should get way more jail time but the other option is disgusting and takes us back somewhere that we should never go.
kokoro7
Agree on the sterilization. If Japan allowed torture, I'd become a torturer and move to Japan, especially for cases like this.
thetoleratedone
Yes sterlisation would be a good idea and also a much longer sentence. I would be looking 10-15 years. At least though its a step up from the usual slap on the wrist.
Alphaape
Both of them were idiots and deserve to be sterilized. Also, how is it a 22 year old can marry a 17 year old?