Archive for April, 2011
23-year-old man arrested over death of girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter
A 23-year-old man from Satte in Saitama Prefecture, has been arrested over the death of the 2-year-old daughter of his 22-year-old girlfriend with whom he was living.
According to police, the suspect, identified as Yoshihito Nakazawa, allegedly committed several acts of assault on the infant, including punching her in the stomach on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the child lost consciousness in the bathroom and was rushed to hospital where she died a short time later.
Nakazawa was quoted by police as saying, “She wouldn’t listen to what I said, so I did it to try and teach her some discipline.”
An autopsy has been ordered to establish the exact cause of death.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Children First at the Tokugawa Parade on April 10th in Okazaki
Children First was handing out balloons and asking parents to take a pledge to provide for the happiness and welfare of children.
Children First Pledge
To all children,
I pledge
To always show you compassion,
To ensure your basic physical and psychological needs,
To shelter you from violence,
To defend your rights, and
To be a positive role model.
In short, I pledge that the happiness and welfare of all children will be my top priority.
With love,
A Former Child.
To learn more please visit childrenfirst.jp or check out the children first facebook page.
Mother arrested after stuffing bread in 2-year-old son’s mouth
A woman, 28, was arrested for allegedly stuffing large chunks of bread into her 2-year-old son’s mouth, causing him to suffocate and lose consciousness, police said Tuesday.
According to police officials, the suspect, identified as Rie Natori, called emergency services on the evening of April 7, saying that her son, Ryugen, lost consciousness after she gave him some bread and left the room for a short period at their home in Tokyo’s Machida. Doctors, however, noticed that the boy had bruises on his body and several rather large chunks of bread stuffed in his mouth, which made them suspicious of a possible child abuse.
Natori, who lives together with her husband, 34, and a 4-month-old daughter, has denied the charge and said she has done nothing to harm her son, police said. But according to witnesses, the mother was observed hitting the boy at a friend’s house earlier in January. Police suspect she may have abused the boy on more than one occasion.
The boy was diagnosed with hypoxic encephalopathy – brain damage from lack of oxygen, and is still unconscious, hospital officials said.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Russia to join Hague Abduction Convention
A draft law on joining the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction has been submitted to the Lower House of the Russian Parliament. The convention paves the way for protecting Russian children from abduction and bringing those who violate the convention to justice.
The convention was concluded in The Hague in October 1980. At present, 82 countries, including the majority of the CIS member countries and the Baltic States are party to the convention. The convention ensures prompt return of children who have been abducted from their country of habitual residence or wrongfully retained in a contracting state that has joined it. It also helps to honour the rights of guardianship over children and provides access to divorced parents to communicate with them.
Lately, noisy scandals linked to children of mixed families of Russians and foreigners have cropped up one after another. Russia has no bilateral agreements on mutual judicial assistance on civil affairs with the majority of states, which detain children born to such families.
When Russia joins the convention, it will get an opportunity to defend children born to parents of mixed marriages, Russians married to foreigners, says a member of the Lower House committee handling the issues of family, women and children, Nina Ostanina. The deputy emphasizes that this concerns problematic situations like that of the actress Natalya Zakharova who has been denied access to her daughter Masha living in France for several years.
“There are precedents with a positive outcome. For one, a Belarus sick girl, who underwent medical treatments in Italy, was detained by an Italian family because they liked her. However, the child was returned to Belarus following a verdict by a court in Genoa in line with the convention. In fact, Belarus is a participant of the convention,” Nina Ostanina said.
At present, none of the verdicts issued by foreign courts concerning Russian children can be used in Russia. However, when Russia joins the convention it will get an opportunity to use them. It has been proved that it’s no easy task to implement the convention. The key task before Russia is to set up a central body to implement the convention in the country. It is entitled to assist in searching for children who have been abducted by parents and in the implementation of the decisions by foreign courts. It’s unclear which ministry will undertake these functions, Education, Justice or some other ministry. The final step will be educating Russian judges, who will be specialized in examining such cases, by experts in international law.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 4 so far )Osaka couple arrested for suffocating 3-year-old boy in garbage bag
OSAKA — Japan Today
A 26-year-old woman and her 20-year-old boyfriend were arrested Thursday for allegedly confining the woman’s 3-year-old son in a plastic garbage bag, causing him to die from suffocation, Osaka prefectural police said Friday.
According to police, on Wednesday at about 7:55 p.m., the suspects, identified as Yui Tanaka and Hiroyuki Sugiyama bound the hands and legs of Tanaka’s son Shizuku and placed him in a plastic garbage bag for 20 minutes in another room in their apartment in Joto Ward, Osaka. The two suspects were quoted as saying that they had no intention of killing Shizuku and that they just meant to discipline the boy because he had been noisy that day.
Tanaka called emergency services herself after the boy stopped crying and became silent, but by the time they arrived, his heart was no longer beating. The boy was confirmed dead one hour after he was taken to hospital.
Neighbors living on the same floor said they often heard the boy crying, but the family looked happy as a whole.
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