crime

Woman held for attempted murder of 4-month-old daughter

23 Comments

Police in Hiroshima on Friday arrested a 39-year-old woman for attempted murder after she allegedly abused her 4-month-old daughter last month.

According to police, the woman, identified as Chiyo Oki, abused her daughter at around 3 p.m. on Aug 23 by wrapping a towel around her mouth and nose at their home in Asaminami Ward. Fuji TV reported that the child lost consciousness and Oki called 119. The infant was taken to hospital where she remains in a coma, police said.

Police said Oki has admitted to the charge, and was quoted as saying she was worn out from child-rearing, Fuji reported. Oki lives with her husband and young son who were out at the time of the incident, police said.

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23 Comments
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My wife is 39 and we have a 4 months baby, our 3rd child. She has brought up the kids very well, of course it has been extremely hard for her at times. PND does exist, this is an awful, awful thing to happen but that woman clearly needs psychiatric help. I hope the baby recovers.

12 ( +12 / -0 )

I pray the baby survives.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Every week you read an article like this! The kid is still in a coma three weeks after the attack, so you can be sure the baby has brain damage. Sickening!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Terribly sad what she did. As my wife and I have a newborn ourselves, I have read up on post-partum depression and one suggestion for dealing with violent impulses stood out to me, which was that if the mother starts having thoughts of harming the child and no one else is home, she should go to a neighbor and leave the child with the neighbor temporarily, saying something to the effect that she needed a time out. Given the realities present in Japanese culture, I don't see this happening, as I think the mother, as well as the neighbor, would see this as a loss of face, (for and towards the mother), not to mention other factors brought up in other comments, such as the expectation that the mother shoulder all the responsibility of child rearing herself. So I don't know what the mother should do in such a situation. I think everyone should put themselves in a mother's shoes when she is raising a newborn, that being having to feed the baby every three-four hours around the clock, day after day, with no let up. Those suffering extreme fatigue coupled with postpartum depression probably don't have any other recourse than to tough it out. I am hoping there already exists a hotline for mothers in such situations, so that they can call someone to talk to in order to deal with all that they may be feeling during this time. If such a hotline doesn't exist, one should be created.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Sigh... sigh... and more sighs....

Is child rearing so difficult in Japan?

3 ( +7 / -4 )

What a selfish witch.

2 ( +9 / -7 )

Worn out in four months? Just plain sad.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

gogogo: if you haven't had PND how dare you pass judgement. It's a sickness well documented and little understood.

1 ( +9 / -8 )

Unforgivable... how can someone do this to their own flesh and blood is beyond me.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

mother.... be a mother

1 ( +1 / -0 )

What about parenting classes? Or parental support groups. Do not take the law into your own hands. Seek help.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Sickening! Sad! Horrible! 39 and she can not handle the stress?? She should not be mucking around having anymore kids! I hope this poor baby survives and withOUT brain damage!!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

It's not right what this mother did but do any of you have children? many people because exhausted from child rearing and it's even harder in Japan as it is commonly believed that a woman should raise her kids alone. Dad doesn't help even when he is home because he is usually over worked and mom and mother in law often don't help either as they tell their daughters it's their responsibility. Post Partum kicks in really quick especially if you are over stressed from raising two kids by yourself. Having a 4 month old at the age of 39 is pretty difficult too. I feel sorry for this baby but I also feel sorry for the mother. Like I said she never should have done this and I pray the baby survives and the mother can get therapy.

-1 ( +9 / -10 )

UsagitoSaru: How dare you feel sorry for this mother! There is no excuse or reasoning for what she did!

-1 ( +9 / -10 )

I want to say that I think her age is VERY relevant to this. It has been proven time and time again that older women having babies have a much higher rate of postpartum depression than younger women who are generally younger, fitter and less physically and emotionally drained by the stress of kids, change in lifestyle, etc.

Of course there are women like Seamus' wife, who are 39 and do okay, but a third kid at 39 and a first at 39 are completely different things. The article said the son was "young" .. what .. like 2?

I suspect more and more cases like this will be the fallout of this country encouraging IVF, and women waiting too long to have babies. We need to be encouraging women to have children at a younger age. More 28 than 39.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

It's hard for anyone with depression in Japan, where mental health is seen as a shameful lack of personal accountability rather than a health problem. Help is thin on the ground for many newly delivered mothers and the hospitals/maternity centers etc, while generally very good often ply the mother with "oh she's so cute", "babies are such fun aren't they?", when the mother is so tired and needing support. PND is often a cursory part of the 'lecture by the midwife' on the 3rd or 4th post-partum day. Yes, you get stuff to read and a hot-line number, but it must still be very hard to think of using these services in a culture where folk do not reach out and your child-rearing difficulties are to be met with gaman. She must have snapped. She herself phoned for an ambulance. Please don't judge this woman.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Depression is treatable, she needs to be locked up.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

After my 2nd child I was given a questionnaire by the local ward office to fill in to check my health status. Questions like "Are you lacking energy?" "Do you feel you want to harm your baby?" " Are you having suicidal thoughts?" I ticked "yes" to every single red flag to see what would happen and sent the questionnaire off. Never heard back. I will probably get someone knocking on the door around the time he turns 18!

No excuses for this woman. But I do understand her frustration. Ive been there. Difference was that I beat the hell out of a pillow. You are exhausted, frustrated, depressed, and cannot see reality anymore. Its like sleepwalking all day and all night with no end in sight. You think you will never be normal again. But a part of your consciousness as a mother kicks in and you know no matter how hard it gets you would never ever harm that little bundle. You would rather kill yourself first. I guess some people dont have that consciousness. Whether that makes them ill or evil is beyond my ability to know.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Until the next one comes along!

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

If you have a disorder, then seek help, or put the children up for adoption. I have been raising children since times immemorial, and even now I bear a lot of the burden, yet, I now it is my responsibility to stick for them because I contributed to bringing them to this World. So, no excuse.

-4 ( +5 / -9 )

PND* yeah lets put it in the crime section of the newspaper. Good for sales. Oh lets publish her name so everyone what a failure of a human she is. Yah!

-5 ( +6 / -11 )

Mother of the week award is in! What a safety country! Would be nice if they provided people in general with more help, but we know how this society works -- you have a baby, you must quit your job and stay home, join the local community Chijikai and PTA (later), have to start from scratch if you insist on working again, etc. What this woman did is absolutely inexcusable, but the baby will see social services for a few weeks at best before being returned to the abuser, and that's it.

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

well she's already old mom @ 39 and have a 4 month baby ...

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

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