The Akita District Court last Wednesday sentenced a 35-year-old woman to life imprisonment for murdering her 9-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old neighborhood boy in Fujisato, a town with a population of just over 4,000, in Akita Prefecture. The crimes appear to point to problems that may have arisen from the woman's weak community and familial bonds.

Ms. Suzuka Hatakeyama was convicted of killing her daughter Ayaka by pushing her from a bridge on April 9, 2006, and strangling the boy, Goken Yoneyama, in her house on May 17 of the same year. The boy lived two houses away from Ms. Hatakeyama. The court did not sentence her to death on the grounds that she acted on impulse and without premeditation.

The ruling said Ms. Hatakeyama tended to feel annoyed by her daughter's presence and that when the girl said she wanted to see fish from the bridge, she became so irritated that she put her on a parapet and pushed her. It pointed out that Ms. Hatakeyama had a selfish desire to discard her parental responsibilities and did not attempt to rescue her daughter when she fell into the river — a mother-child relationship that is beyond comprehension.