Tokyo police were set to rearrest a woman in her 30s and her common-law husband in his 20s, after the pair allegedly starved the woman’s daughter, causing her to become severely malnourished, investigative sources said Tuesday.
The girl reportedly lost about 10 kilograms over a five-month period before being taken into protective custody, unable to walk or eat independently.
The mother told investigators she only gave the girl one meal a day.
The couple has already been arrested twice on suspicion of assaulting three of the girl’s siblings, and the Metropolitan Police Department believes they routinely abused the children.
Investigators allege that over a period of about one month, from July to August, the pair failed to provide adequate food and did not seek medical care for the girl despite her deteriorating health, fearing the abuse would be discovered.
Multiple burn marks resembling those caused by cigarettes were found on the girl’s body, raising suspicion that she was also physically assaulted.
In August, an acquaintance who had seen the girl at a friend’s home reported to child protective services that she was “abnormally thin.” After receiving the alert, police searched the family’s home in September. An examination of seized smartphones and a monitoring camera uncovered evidence of routine abuse.
The household included children ranging from preschool age to junior high school. All have since been placed under protective custody. Police said that the older children were forced to care for younger ones, and most were rarely allowed to attend school.
“The shutters were always closed, so I wondered what was going on,” a woman living nearby said.
Another neighbor recalled, “I often heard small children crying. They didn’t seem to be going to school, and I was worried.”
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