Photo/Illutration Yua Funato, a 5-year-old girl who died in Tokyo’s Meguro Ward in March 2018 as a result of physical abuse by her parents (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The Tokyo District Court on Oct. 15 sentenced the stepfather of a 5-year-old girl who died after months of physical abuse and being put on a near-starvation diet by her parents to 13 years in prison.

Prosecutors had sought an 18-year prison sentence for Yudai Funato, 34, for physical abuse and neglect against his stepdaughter, Yua.

Funato, along with the girl’s mother, Yuri, 27, forcibly put Yua on a near-starvation diet from late January 2018 at their home in the capital’s Meguro Ward.

In late February 2018, Yua became so frail that she repeatedly vomited. But Funato did not take her to a hospital. Yua died on March 2, 2018, from septic poisoning.

During the trial, prosecutors said that Yua had been on an extremely harsh diet that made her lose more than 4 kilograms in less than a month, pointing out that the girl weighed 12.2 kg, about 6 kg lighter than the average weight of children of the same age.

Prosecutors also said Funato “bullied Yua until the very end.” Funato scolded his wife on a daily basis and made her complicit in the abuse, they said. As a result, Yua felt cornered and had nowhere to turn for help.

Prosecutors demanded a severe punishment comparable with a murder charge.

Defense lawyers argued that while Funato’s abuse was in no way justifiable, they contended that their client worked to “become a father” after he married Yuri in 2016 and adopted Yua. Defense lawyers disputed the prosecution’s argument that he despised her existence after he fathered a son with Yuri and abused the girl as a rash act.

Defense lawyers also argued that the abuse should not be weighed too much in terms of sentencing; rather, the lay judges should treat the conditions of neglect during the period from when Funato realized Yua’s life was in danger until her death as a critical factor.

Defense lawyers said that Funato came to such a realization on the day before Yua’s death and called an ambulance for her.

Since he didn’t neglect Yua until she died, the case should not be considered “the most severe” for a child abuse case, the defense lawyers contended. They said a nine-year prison sentence would be appropriate.

Yuri was tried prior to Funato. The Tokyo District Court sentenced her to eight years in prison on Sept. 17.

The court recognized that while Yuri had been psychologically abused by Yudai, which had an impact on her behavior, she ended up tolerating her husband’s abuse of her daughter. Yuri has appealed her sentence.