A 31-year-old woman was sentenced to seven years in prison for physically abusing her 3-year-old daughter, resulting in her death.
Rena Taiko and her friend, Anri Nagumo, 31, who is on trial separately, beat Taiko's daughter in the face, burned the girl's buttocks with a lighter and inflicted other violence on the evening of Nov. 24 at Nagumo's house in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, according to the court.
The girl lost consciousness and died Dec. 13.
"It is saddening to think of the despair and fear that the girl, in her little heart, must have felt in losing her life at the hands of her mother, in whom she should have been able to trust," presiding Judge Keisuke Hosoda said in handing down the ruling.
Taiko pleaded guilty in April, explaining that the abuse was aimed at making the child behave. Nagumo has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors had sought 10 years in prison for Taiko, saying she and Nagumo had been beating the girl repeatedly for almost a month.