THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
February 10, 2022 at 14:55 JST
The house where Aya Nishida and daughter Mao lived together in Okayama (Toru Amemiya)
OKAYAMA—A mother and her common-law husband were arrested on Feb. 9 over allegations they repeatedly abused and tortured the woman’s daughter before the 6-year-old died of brain damage in January.
Aya Nishida, 34, and Seiji Funahashi, a 38-year-old indoor handyman, are suspected of physically abusing the girl, Mao, and collusion to commit abuse, Okayama prefectural police said.
The two suspects are both residents of Okayama.
Funahashi has admitted to the charges, police said, but Nishida denied the allegations, saying, “I did not do it, so it doesn’t make sense that I colluded.”
Mao had lived together with her mother and other siblings in the city.
According to police, Nishida and Funahashi got to know each other around February 2019.
They are suspected of abusing Mao on at least five occasions at Nishida’s house from Sept. 10 through 23.
They allegedly grabbed and pulled Mao’s hair and forced her to stand in a pot placed on a chair for more than 20 hours over a five-day period.
On one occasion, Mao stood on the pot for nearly six hours from night until the morning, and the suspects let the girl relieve herself in the pot while she was still standing, police said.
They also sprayed the girl’s upper body with a liquid and ran a fan that blew cold air on her body for long hours, police said.
One time before forcing Mao to stand on the pot, Funahashi said, “We are going to have a good time today, too,” according to police.
On Sept. 25, two days after the last act of abuse, Nishida made an emergency call about Mao’s health, police said.
The unconscious girl was brought to a hospital, where she was diagnosed as brain-dead. She died on Jan. 12.
According to police, the assault against Mao deprived her of oxygen, which led to the brain damage.
Multiple reports of suspected abuse against Mao were made to a child welfare center in Okayama city from three years ago.
“I heard cries and screams during the day and night,” a nearby resident said.
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