Aichi Prefectural Police arrested a 33-year-old woman and her common-law husband Thursday on suspicion of assaulting and causing the death of her 7-year-old daughter.
Minami Shimazaki and her partner Gai Kurata, 32, face charges of neglect and causing injury resulting in death, respectively. Authorities have not disclosed whether they have admitted to the charges.
Police allege that between 8:40 p.m. on May 24 and 7:40 a.m. on May 25, Kurata attacked his partner’s daughter, Nao Shimazaki, at their apartment in the city of Inuyama.
The girl was taken to a hospital in Gifu Prefecture following a call to emergency services placed by Kurata. She died on May 26 from septic shock.
Minami Shimazaki is accused of failing to seek appropriate medical care for her daughter despite her complaints of abdominal pain and vomiting, which led to her death.
Investigators discovered multiple bruises on Nao Shimazaki’s body, leading them to suspect prolonged abuse. According to the Ichinomiya Child Consultation Center in Aichi Prefecture, the girl had been temporarily taken into protective custody twice between 2022 and 2023.
However, the protective measures were lifted at her request, as she allegedly wanted to return home.
Prefectural authorities will set up a third-party committee to review the child consultation center’s handling of the case.