Police on Tuesday arrested an Australian man on suspicion of shaking his 14-month-old daughter violently, causing brain hemorrhage and death.
The Metropolitan Police Department said Richard Alan Burrows, 36, of no specific address or occupation, is thought to have attacked Riona Shidonii Ito some time between 6 p.m. March 24 and 6:30 a.m. on March 25 at an apartment in Tokyo's Suginami Ward.
Burrows has denied the charge. "I have nothing to say at this moment," he was quoted saying.
The infant was rushed to a nearby hospital but was confirmed dead at about 8 a.m. on March 25. She suffered respiratory arrest attributed to subdural hematoma, an accumulation of blood outside the brain. Police said the death was typical of shaken baby syndrome.
Officers say Burrows lived at the address with his daughter and wife, who is in her 20s and was out at work at the time.
It was not the first time for Burrows to come under scrutiny for suspected mistreatment.
A child consultation center in Suginami Ward said he called 119 in May 2014 and reported that something was wrong with his daughter.
A doctor who treated the girl suspected shaken baby syndrome and reported the case to the child consultation center.
The center took Riona into custody in June the same year. The couple were interviewed more than 20 times and the center returned her to them at the end of the year.
The center said it would review its actions to see if more could have been done to prevent the tragic death.
"We have interviewed (the couple) a number of times, but we take the incident very gravely," said an official at the consultation center. "We would like to come up with ways to improve the situation and prevent a recurrence after going through the measures we have taken."