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A 3-year-old boy fell to his death from the balcony of his family's 8th floor apartment in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, on Saturday.
According to police, a passerby saw the boy lying on a second-floor metal covering extending over the entrance of the 14-floor building at around 7:25 a.m. Saturday and called 119. Fuji TV reported that the boy was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Police said the boy, Itsuki Miyata, lived with his father, 26, mother, 31, and 54-year-old grandfather. The boy's father had gone out earlier and his mother went out at around 7 a.m., leaving her son home with his grandfather. However, the woman called and asked her father to come down to the first floor lobby and bring something she had left behind.
The grandfather told police he was out of the apartment for several minutes and that when he got back, an unlocked window to the balcony was open and his grandson was gone.
Police said the balcony railing is 1.2 meters high and that there were a table and chair on the balcony. They believe the boy might have climbed up on the chair and leaned too far over the railing.
© Japan Today
18 Comments
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Disillusioned
He old table and chairs on he 8th floor balcony trick! It amazing how many kids fall for this one! (Pun intended) I cannot believe how flipping stupid people are! Firstly, for leaving a kid alone in an apartment, regardless of it being 'several minutes'. And, of course, putting a table and chairs on the balcony when they have little kids. You might as well just out a sign on it saying, "Climb me!" I'm sure the grandfather wishes he took the kid downstairs with him now.
gogogo
You never leave a child alone for a second
sensei258
Completely avoidable if any one of them gave a cr@p about the child. I guess carrying that extra bag of groceries was way too important
kwatt
Again! It seems that some parents don't care about many same incidents happened in the past and they assume such a thing never happens to my child.
FightingViking
Maybe if it had been locked ?
fenris777
Again! It seems that some parents don't care about many same incidents happened in the past and they assume such a thing never happens to my child.
You never leave a child alone for a second.
Completely avoidable if any one of them gave a cr@p about the child. I guess carrying that extra bag of groceries was way too important.
How does it feel being so superior all the time? It's easy to judge. It's much, much more difficult to live through something like this. You all should be ashamed of yourselves. Compassion and understanding are helpful; not holier-than-though statements of admonition.
Moderator
Readers, no bickering please.
Strangerland
I feel sadness at a mistake made by a family that resulted in something that will likely taint the rest of their lives, and very possibly destroy their family.
igloobuyer
No way can this many children 'fall' from high rise buildings in such frequency - why no investigation or autopsy!? The government already knows there is an infanticide/abuse epidemic in this country. Not good enough. Where is the public outcry Japan?
americangio
" Tears in Heaven " ...
Monozuki
Leaving the 3-year-old boy alone on the 8th floor with the unlocked window to the balcony was the last thing the grandfather should have done. Let alone a table and chair in there. And the woman on the first floor lobby should have drawn to the grandfather's attention that he should take her son with him. RIP to the little boy.
Strangerland
It's unclear from the article whether the window was left unlocked, or just found unlocked.
True, but we don't know how they ended up there - maybe he was moving things around, and the table and chairs weren't normally there.
Maybe she thought he would. Maybe the kid was sleeping. Maybe any number of other things.
zones2surf
It is entirely plausible that this was just an unfortunate accident. Or not?
The series of events that needed to happen in a very short time frame could be seen as being very convenient.
Just saying.
Moderator: Any implication that it was murder is offensive speculation at this point.
DaDude
I am sure many upon many parents have had an experience to run upstairs or outside to grab something while leaving their child unattended. I am sure not a single person expects the worst for the quick time they are gone.
Reading about these types of cases makes me happy to live in a house. Even a fall from the 2nd floor can be dangerous so I bought child safety locks for the door and windows.
tmarie
RIP. Poor kid probably just wanted to see his mom so climbed up on the table/chairs to get a look. Sorry Gramps, but you don't leave a kid that age alone, more so in a highrise with windows that might be unlocked. I keep wondering how many of these accidents we need to read about before people actually stop leaving their small children unattended. I constantly see small kids in my neighbourhood wandering around alone - not even ele school kids. There is a small pond near my house and I shudder when someone kid will will go in because they are just curious.
Ah_so
You do in the real world. You just don't if there is open access to an 8th floor balcony.
Tamarama
Ahh, man. I can only speak from my current situation. I have a 3 year old boy. He is smart, curious, very physically active and capable....and there is no way in hell I would leave him alone in a single story house, let alone an apartment like the one described.
It's a tragedy.
John Beara
You have no idea what a child can do in few sec.. even at 2 years.. i was doing my business in toilet.. and my neighbour found my son walking on the street with his diaper :/ , he went outside from the windows (which was lock) but he was tall enought and knew how to opened it. On the same day i bought some new lock for all my windows :D