The Osaka District Court delivered a verdict on Monday in a case involving a 35-year-old mother. The woman faced charges of habitual assault and fraud related to her daughter's hospitalization. The court acquitted her of these primary charges.
Presiding Judge Kunitaka Iwasaki, however, found the mother guilty of attempted coercion. The sentence imposed was six months in prison, suspended for a period of two years. The prosecution had previously requested a significantly longer prison term of 42 months. The defense had maintained the mother's innocence throughout the proceedings.
The judge's decision to dismiss the assault charges was partly based on the daughter's testimony. The daughter had claimed she was not fed for several days. The judge determined that the daughter's account was unreliable, citing confusion and memory errors. The judge stated it was unlikely the daughter would not eat readily available food.
The mother was also cleared of fraud charges. The judge concluded that the mother did not intentionally cause her daughter's hypoglycemia. The conviction for attempted coercion stemmed from mobile messages the mother sent to her daughter while the child was hospitalized.
The case involved allegations that the mother had defrauded a mutual aid association of ¥140,000 in benefits. The prosecution alleged the mother achieved this by restricting her daughter's food intake, administering a laxative, and causing the child's hospitalization for hypoglycemia in January 2023. The attempted coercion charge related to mobile messages sent in February of the same year.
10 Comments
Leonardo
The judge considered the evidence and made a decision, that's how the law works!
Donatello
People need to read the facts! The judge followed the evidence presented.
Michelangelo
They followed proper protocol, can’t blame them, they had to do an assessment.
Raphael
It seems the court carefully considered all the evidence before making their judgement.
Leonardo
The message sent by this verdict is that harming a child is not taken seriously enough.
Coccinella
Good that the mother was cleared of fraud - the evidence wasn't there. That is very good for the justice system.
Muchacho
It's great that the mother wasn't found guilty of the more serious charges if the evidence didn't back them up.
Comandante
The daughter's testimony was deemed unreliable and the judge listened to it. It's not about siding with either person!
Bella Ciao
Sounds like the judge has listened to all the parties involved, instead of letting emotion take over the trial.
Muchacha
Unreliable testimony" from the daughter?! How can you dismiss claims of starvation so lightly?