The parents of a 6-year-old boy whose body was found in a plastic bag floating in a canal here earlier this week admitted Friday that the boy died after they physically abused him, police said.
According to Hyogo Prefectural Police, the 24-year-old parents of Kyoichi Seta admitted they abused the child and that he later died.
The couple have been under arrest since Tuesday on suspicion of abandoning the boy's body but had denied any involvement in his death.
But the mother, Tomoko Seta, was quoted Friday as telling investigators that she put the boy's body into a plastic bag after he died Aug. 7. Her husband, Takeshi, the boy's stepfather, admitted to the crime the same day.
According to police, the couple have not given detailed accounts of the abuse they inflicted on the boy.
Investigations have also revealed that shouting and a child's crying were heard coming from the couple's apartment up until the night of Aug. 6. The following day, Tomoko called the boy's grandmother, a resident of Osaka, and asked her to come to the apartment as she wanted advice. When the grandmother arrived at the couple's apartment, Kyoichi was lying limp on a futon with blood running out of his mouth, police quoted her as saying.
Police said they would continue to look into the case to see whether the pair should also be arrested for inflicting injury resulting in death.