Photo/Illutration Tazuko Morita, second from left, the head of the Nara prefectural Takada children and family counseling center, speaks at a news conference in the Nara prefectural government building on Sept. 6. (Misuzu Tsukue)

NARA--A man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting and killing his girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter, Nara prefectural police reported on Sept. 6.

Shoya Yamashita, 27, a construction worker living in Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture, is suspected of inflicting injuries that resulted in the death of Seika Tagawa, who resided with her mother in Kashihara, Nara Prefecture.

Yamashita denied the allegations. 

"I don't know anything about that," he said. 

According to police, Yamashita allegedly assaulted Seika sometime between 2 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. on June 18 by pressing hard on her stomach. The girl died the next day.

Her cause of death was an inflamed membrane in her abdomen, caused by a hole in her intestine duodenum.

Yamashita met Seika’s mother, 28, on social media, and they had been dating since April.

The mother reportedly told police that the three had been asleep in the same room that night, but at some point, “there was a time when Yamashita and Seika were not in the bedroom.”

According to the mother’s explanation to police, Seika vomited and developed a fever on the morning of June 18. She continued vomiting the following day and was taken to a hospital, where she died.

The hospital reported, “The girl had bruises on her face. She could have been abused.”

The subsequent investigation revealed additional probable incidences of abuse, leading to Yamashita also being arrested on Aug. 16 and indicted on Sept. 5 on suspicion of inflicting bruises on Seika’s forehead and left cheek on May 4.

The mother’s smartphone had a picture of her injured daughter, sources said.

WARNING SIGNS REPEATEDLY MISSED

The Nara prefectural government said at a news conference on Sept. 6 that multiple reports had been made alleging that Seika was being abused, including one report just a month before the girl’s death.

However, investigations into the matter had not concluded that abuse had taken place.

Seika and her mother moved to Kashihara in September 2020, according to the prefectural government.

On Oct. 27 and 28 of that year, acquaintances reported that they suspected the girl had been abused, saying, “Seika has bruises on her face.”

The city government investigated on Oct. 28 but found no bruises and concluded that temporary protection for the child was not necessary.

After that, Seika was registered as a “child in need of support” in a city council meeting and the city government kept in contact with her family.

On May 12 of this year, a dentist reported to the prefectural government that, “(Seika’s) left eye is bloodshot and she told me that her mother’s boyfriend cut her eye.”

The city government asked Seika’s mother about the dentist's report on May 17. However, the mother explained, “While my boyfriend was drying my daughter’s hair, his hand accidentally hit her eye.”

“We trusted the mother’s account and did not think that abuse had taken place,” city officials said.

After this incident, the local government was aware of Yamashita’s presence in the Tagawa family home, but they did not interview him.

“We need to verify whether the (governments’) responses were appropriate,” said Tazuko Morita, the head of the Nara prefectural Takada children and family counseling center.

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