High school girl acquitted of murdering baby born in restroom

[Tokis-Phoenix]

"NAGAOKA, Niigata -- A high school girl has been acquitted in a juvenile trial of murdering a baby boy she gave birth to in a school restroom.

The Nagaoka branch of the Niigata Family Court handed down the decision on the girl, who was an 18-year-old student at a prefectural high school in Nagaoka at the time of the incident in June last year.

Presiding Judge Fumio Kitamura ruled that the deposition that quotes her as saying that she deliberately dropped the baby into a bowl to drown him cannot be trusted. "Her actions do not constitute murder or any other crime."";

Full story;

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080314p2a00m0na007000c.html


I guess its possible that she accidentally killed the child if she put it in a bowl of water that was too cold, but apparently the child was drowned, so i dunno...What amazed me most about this story is that no-one noticed that she was pregnant at any point during her pregnancy.
It must have been an aweful time for her, however IMHO she's hardly a juvenile at 18years old, in my country she would be considered an adult, so she must have known what she was doing was wrong- i wonder what punishment she will get for this whole ordeal...?

 

[tokapi]

Consider abortion is common in Japan ... erh ... no surprise

 

[nice gaijin]

Consider abortion is common in Japan ... erh ... no surprise

Are you equating abortion to dropping a live baby into a toilet and drowning him?

 

[Goldiegirl]

It's a tough situation. I don't agree with the laws that say 18 year olds are adults. I have a niece who will still be in high school at 18! So in that respect I think the law in Japan is fine. I feel bad this young woman felt she had to hide being pregnant. I can't judge her, I don't know the whole story. What was her family life like, etc. I believe she is guilty though of at least neglect. Maybe I am too lenient....

 

[Haruspex]

Are you equating abortion to dropping a live baby into a toilet and drowning him?

Well the concept is the same. Only the means differ a bit.

Anyhow, stupidity and the lack of healthy selfishness always receives its punishment, this case is no different. The child died, its sad yeah. Not that im particularly surprised about all this, this wouldn't be the first time, nor the last.

 

[nice gaijin]

Well the concept is the same. Only the means differ a bit.

...what? How is early termination of a pregnancy the same concept as carrying a child to term in secret, then purposefully drowning the child AFTER it has been born and surviving outside of the womb? Only the means differ a LITTLE? What an outrageous statement.

Anyhow, stupidity and the lack of healthy selfishness always receives its punishment, this case is no different. The child died, its sad yeah. Not that im particularly surprised about all this, this wouldn't be the first time, nor the last.

What punishment, she was acquitted of all charges.

 

[Haruspex]

What punishment, she was acquitted of all charges.

Well, would you volunteer to be dragged through the same mess as she was? Besides, she will be marked and shunned for life.

People will just go: "Oh yeah, wasn't it you who took her child out in the loo?"

 

[Goldiegirl]

If the laws are similar to the USA, her name will not be released as she is a minor, so she won't suffer because people won't know her. I looked at the article and her name isn't published.

 

[magevampjoe]

Just because her name isn't published means nothing;
her local community will know, as somebody will know she did it, tell someone, who tells someone else etc etc.
Just because the entire world doesn't know her name, she will still be shunned as long as she lives where she does. To live a more normal life (still filled with guilt I think) she will have to move away.

Also, not every pregnant woman has a huge lump on the front of their body. Some women have the womb centered rather than more to the front of the body, so she may not have shown much sight of pregnancy; only enough that people might say she was getting fat.

Joe

 

[Mars Man]

While we don't really have a lot of detail that would be good to know, when attempting to pass judgment, I tend to think that the girl will probably not recieve so much stigma about it. The social fabric is just different here. If it had been in the US, for example, there would have been a bit more uproar, and she would much more likely be 'marked.'

You just don't get these loose-ends running around trying to blow up abortion clinics here, so much at all-comparatively, and having a child. . . puts things in a rather different light. I will take the position that I feel sorry for the girl...not in a negative way, but in a positive one.

 

[Hiroyuki Nagashima]

If I examine her crime characteristics,
By a Japanese law,
1. When she killed a baby with the urge to kill,
Murder is applied.
2. When she has killed a baby in an accident at the time of the birth in a lavatory,
Protection person in charge involuntary homicide
An abandonment fatal crime
3. When a baby already died at the time of the birth,
Innocence

This case,
A baby was 2700g.
At the time of the birth, she seems to have fainted.
The judge judged that it was a miscarriage.
However, the police seem to appeal to a higher court.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/news/20080313-OYT1T00556.htm

 

[Mars Man]

However, the police seem to appeal to a higher court.

The silly police often seem to do that kind of thing....

I hope she is again acquitted. Too much is being placed on the event, for too little outcome.

 

[MadamePapillon]

I would think there should be some sort of repercussion for killing a newborn child, whether or not this was intentional murder she was still responsible for it's welfare. Eighteen is old enough to know the consequences of your actions, she choose not to tell anybody, she choose not to seek professional help for her and her child...at what point is a person responsible for their own actions?

She had nine months to make a decision about what to do and in the end she choose the path that ended up killing the baby. If that isn't at least pre-meditated reckless endangerment I don't know what is. I'm not saying she should be punished, necessarily, but she shouldn't be able to just walk away.

 

[FrustratedDave]

If I examine her crime characteristics,
By a Japanese law,
1. When she killed a baby with the urge to kill,
Murder is applied.
2. When she has killed a baby in an accident at the time of the birth in a lavatory,
Protection person in charge involuntary homicide
An abandonment fatal crime
3. When a baby already died at the time of the birth,
Innocence

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/news/20080313-OYT1T00556.htm

Hiroyuki, I think you will find 遺棄致死罪 is "Reckless abandonment resulting in death, involuntary manslaughter".

Anyway, the news is full of holes, noone really knows what happend, but I find it starnge that a droped child has nothing to show for it. She said the baby sliped and she droped it, why was that not brought up in court? Maybe it was ?

Well if the legal system is anything to go by with parents killing their child (like the ones who play pachinko for 7 hours straight and leave their kids in the car) even she did do it intentionally and was convicted, she would only be talked to harshly and sent home, maybe grounded for a few days from her parents.

Man, the Chinese guy who stole a few pekochans got 8 years in prison, the courts saying that it caused emotional stress to whoever, then that very next week a women who left her child in a car will gambling that died was sentenced to 3 years, and be let out after 1 year on good behaivour. Yep, I can see where those decisions came from... NOT!

 

[dreamer]

Goodness...how could she hide her pregnancy for so long? oO
But anyway...we only know what the news are telling us and making judgements based on only one source might not be the wisest thing to do despite her act...

 

[Haruspex]

Eighteen is old enough to know the consequences of your actions, she choose not to tell anybody, she choose not to seek professional help for her and her child...at what point is a person responsible for their own actions?
She had nine months to make a decision about what to do and in the end she choose the path that ended up killing the baby. If that isn't at least pre-meditated reckless endangerment I don't know what is. I'm not saying she should be punished, necessarily, but she shouldn't be able to just walk away.

Normally eighteen is enough, but she herself is the proof that its only enough normally, usually. Its not like you can really draw a line and say that from this age on this is normal, and that is not.

 

[Jericho Desu]

I can't really imagine what she went through, but for god's sake noone noticed she was pregnant?? But I'm not sure what to think really, I mean a child was killed and why wouldn't she request help from someone close by, she was still in school after all. However since I didn't know what actually happened I'm just going to say this is a horrible tragedy...

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I think its sad that she felt that she couldn't seek help for her problems. But either way, she was very immature and stupid and her actions cost the life of a newly born child. I do think she should serve some kind of punishment because of this, because she is still guilty of manslaughter even if she isn't guilty of murder- if the law doesn't punish girls like her, then other girls may do the same as her but really do intentionally kill the child.
People have to be responsible for their actions- IMHO, she's old enough at 18 to take responsibility for her actions and she must have known what she was doing was wrong- at the very least, she should be sent to a rehabilitation clinic to help her sort out her issues (if she has a heart, she must have tremendous issues from this whole ordeal).

 

[bakaKanadajin]

18 years of age is a number we're forced to accept as the age where people should be viewed as adults. Being 18 automatically carries a notion of 'you ought to know beter'. As we all know, there are people who are twice that age who still act like children. It's really an arbitrary number in some cases. Upon closer consideration the judge may have found the girl to be over-sheltered, emotionally unequipped and incapable of pre-meditated murder. At the very least, he/she was unable to hold her accountable for foul play beyond a reasonable doubt.

Japanese school girls wear big bulky sweaters over their uniforms and they're quite petite to begin with. We think therefore they'd show more, but they're really only filling-out to the average size of a Westerner in some cases. Maybe people just thought she was getting fat. Birth could have also been premature, stress-induced, etc.