A 32-year-old Chiba woman was sentenced to a 2½-year jail term Wednesday, suspended for 5 years with probation, for assisting her husband in assaulting their daughter and thus contributing to the child's death earlier this year.
The horrific death of 10-year-old Mia Kurihara, whose bruised body was found in the bathroom of her family's home in the city of Noda, Chiba Prefecture, in late January, has drawn huge media attention in and outside Japan.
The case has highlighted loopholes in the country's child abuse prevention system, with Mia's pleas to her mother Nagisa and her elementary school for help regarding her abusive father having gone unheard.