Ibaraki Prefectural Police on Friday arrested the father of a three-year-old boy for allegedly beating his son to death.
Officials said the man, identified as Yoshiharu Suzaki, 24, kicked and hit his son, Ryota, in the chest and abdomen, causing the boy to die less than an hour later.
The incident took place at Suzaki's home in the village of Tamari, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Wednesday night, police officials said.
Suzaki allegedly told police that he beat his son because he was disobedient.
Suzaki's wife was away at the time, and Suzaki was at home with his 10-month-old daughter and Ryota.
Suzaki summoned an ambulance late Friday. Ryota died shortly after he was admitted to a local hospital.
Infant starves to death
NAGOYA (Kyodo) Police on Friday arrested a 24-year-old woman from Nagoya's Nishi Ward on suspicion of starving her 14-month-old son to death.
Miyuki Tamura, a single mother, is suspected of failing to feed her son, Kenichi Matsumoto, from late June.
Tamura, a restaurant employee, allegedly told police investigators she did not have money and had only given her son tea since late June.
The child weighed only 5.1 kg when he was found by authorities. His diaper had not been changed for a while, police officials said.
Tamura and her husband divorced in February and she moved from Higashiura, western Aichi Prefecture, to Nagoya in March.
She had a job at a restaurant with baby-sitting facilities in Nagoya's Nishi Ward but left the company in late June. At her next job, she allegedly left her son at home while she went to work.
Tamura called for an ambulance around 3 p.m. Thursday, saying there was something wrong with her child. By the time paramedics arrived, the boy was already dead. Police officials said an autopsy showed the boy had died Wednesday.