OSAKA -- A 30-year-old truck driver was arrested in Osaka Prefecture on suspicion of beating to death the 4-year-old daughter of his live-in partner, police said Wednesday.
Takaaki Takagi allegedly struck Ayaka Kimura repeatedly on the head, chest and back at their apartment in Moriguchi, Osaka Prefecture, around midnight Monday, police said.
Takagi was reportedly angry that Ayaka, the eldest child of Miho Kimura, 25, did not show him affection, police said. They said the suspect admitted to the charges against him.
After finding the girl unconscious Tuesday morning, her mother called her eldest sister and husband, who alerted police.
The girl was pronounced dead due to traumatic hemorrhaging at a hospital Tuesday night, police said.
Police quoted Kimura as saying that Takagi had frequently assaulted her daughter since they started living together about a month ago.