A 51-year-old woman was sentenced Monday to four years in prison for fatally abusing her 3-year-old granddaughter at their home in Koga, Ibaraki Prefecture.
The Mito District Court convicted Akiko Kikuchi of assault resulting in the death of her granddaughter, Kiseki Higuchi, who died Aug. 6 from colon necrosis after Kikuchi wrapped the girl in a blanket and tied her up with an electrical cord.
Kikuchi assaulted the girl because she was angry when the child told her 53-year-old father that Kikuchi had beaten her, according to prosecutors.
Kikuchi lived with the girl and her father, taking care of the child after Kikuchi's daughter divorced the father.
She pleaded guilty to the charge.
Two boys found dead
SAPPORO (Kyodo) Two boys were found dead by police at their home in Engaru, Hokkaido, on Sunday after receiving a call from a woman saying she had killed her children.
Police arrested the 49-year-old woman later in the day on suspicion of killing the boys.
The woman, who was was hospitalized after she said she had taken pills, was questioned after she recovered.
The bodies, believed to be those of her 4-year-old and 6-year-old sons, were found in a bedroom, police said.