By YUSUKE MORISHITA/ Staff Writer
October 5, 2021 at 18:30 JST
The building housing the Osaka District Court and Osaka High Court (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
OSAKA--A mother who forced her newborn to vomit by feeding him her own blood was handed a suspended eight-month prison sentence for “dangerous assault.”
The 24-year-old woman pleaded not guilty, but the court concluded there was no one but her who could have done it.
She explained that she was intent only on ensuring her son received advanced medical treatment when he was sick by making his condition appear more serious.
The Osaka District Court on Oct. 4 took this into account in awarding a more lenient sentence than the eight months in prison sought by prosecutors.
Noting that infants have poor immunity to infections, the court ruled that her actions were “short-sighted” as they took no account of the possibility they put the child's life at risk.
The mother fed her son her own blood and made him vomit on two occasions in February and March last year, when he was being treated at a hospital in Osaka, according to the ruling.
The boy, who was born in January, was admitted to the ICU for fever, according to police.
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