Mia Kurihara, who died in January following a series of alleged assaults by her father, was released from protective custody despite suspicion that he had sexually abused her, local government sources admitted Tuesday.
According to the sources, the 10-year-old girl had told child welfare center officials during interviews in 2017 that her father, Yuichiro Kurihara, had woken her up at night and pulled her pants down.
Kurihara, 41, has already been indicted on assault-related charges after his daughter was found dead in the bathroom of their home in Noda, Chiba Prefecture.