A Chiba Prefecture man on Friday partially denied charges that he assaulted his 10-year-old daughter, who died in January last year in a high-profile abuse case.

"I never starved her or weakened her. Nor did I keep her standing, or shower her in cold water," Yuichiro Kurihara, 42, said of his daughter, Mia, in the first hearing of his case at the Chiba District Court.

Kurihara, however, expressed "deep remorse," saying, "What I have done to my daughter is beyond the scope of discipline."