In June this year, in a housing complex in Tondabayashi City, Osaka, two grandmothers and others living together were indicted for abandonment and death of a guardian, saying that they tied the hands and feet of a 2-year-old girl and left her in a room to die of heat stroke. it was done.

The indicted were my grandmother Mayumi Ono (46), who lives in Tondabayashi City, and Takanori Momota (50), who lives with me.



According to the indictment, the two of them tied both hands and feet of the defendant's grandson Yuyo Ono (2), who lived together for three days until June 29, with adhesive tape, and then tied it with a plywood board. I confined him in a playpen with a lid on all four sides.



And he is accused of abandoning the person in charge of protection and confining him for causing him to die of heat stroke without giving him enough water and food and not properly managing the temperature.



He was also charged with confining and confining him in the same playpen for 57 hours, including the four days until June 27, just before this.



Defendant Ono remained silent in response to police investigations so far, and Defendant Momota stated, "When I threw something, I tied it up. When I went out on June 27, I didn't tie it up." It means that

Confinement Done for at least a year?

Investigations so far have revealed that there is a suspicion that the confinement has continued for at least a year since June last year.

When the police checked the mobile phones of the two, they found that in June of last year, defendant Ono had sent defendant Momota a picture of Yuyo, whose legs were tied, in a playpen.



Also, in October, a picture of Yuyo-chan being placed in a shopping basket in a playpen and a net being hung from above was sent.



The playpen found at the scene is 88 centimeters high, and there is a suspicion that boards were attached to surround it on all sides to prevent it from going outside.



A board that was used as a lid to cover the playpen was also found in the room.



In response to the investigation so far, Ono said, "Since the end of last year, he started binding his hands and feet with adhesive tape."



On the other hand, defendant Momota stated, ``I started to tie him up about a year ago. I put it in the circle," he said.

How the girl died

The police investigation also revealed the circumstances leading up to Yuu-chan's death.



The two stayed at a hotel in Osaka Prefecture from June 24th to around noon on June 27th, five days before Yuyo's death, and continued to return home during the day.



It is suspected that he was trapped in a playpen for 57 hours during this time.



After leaving home again on the night of the 27th, I stayed at a hotel near Universal Studios Japan for two consecutive days, never returning home.



At this time, it seems that both hands and feet were tied and left in the playpen, and no food or drink was placed near Yuyo.



Ono's fourth son (15 years old at the time), who was at home with him, said, "I gave him water only once."

the day he died

On the morning of June 29, the day of his death, the fourth son sent Ono a message saying, "It's hot, but are you okay?", but there was no reply.



When the fourth son returned home around 4:00 pm, he found Yuyo-chan exhausted in the playpen, and when he called Ono, he said, ``You might have a heat stroke. It means you were told.



The fourth son explained that "they did not give any specific instructions" regarding the care of Yuyo.



About an hour later, two people came home and reported the incident to the fire department.



It is suspected that Yuu-chan died of heat stroke because he could not take enough food and water for more than half a day before his death.



In response to the investigation at the time of their arrest, the two said, "I was stressed about childcare, so I went out around 5:00 am on June 29th for a change of pace." He went out and did not return until he received a call from his fourth son."



Regarding this, Defendant Momota said, "I thought that going out for a long time would make the crime worse."



On the other hand, defendant Ono continues to remain silent.

Government response

The "Tondabayashi Children's Home Center", which is a child guidance center, began providing support after Yuyo drowned while taking a bath with Defendant Ono in June and suffered a temporary cardiopulmonary arrest.



The center advised Yuyo to live safely because she was suspected of abandoning her child, and as a result of visiting her home several times, her child care improved.



In October 2016, Tondabayashi City took over the support, and as a result of discussions with the center and others, it was possible to watch over the child at the nursery school. degree”.



After that, the city held interviews with Ono and Yuyo 10 times at the government office, and regularly interviewed them over the phone.



In June last year, Yuyo left the nursery school due to Ono's work, making it difficult for outsiders to see her. ” to ”Assistance required”.



However, between the time she took over and the incident, she had never made a home visit.



Regarding the response at that time, the city determined that the risk was low because they were able to have regular interviews with Yuyo and she did not appear to be being abused, and because she was developing well.



Regarding home visits, although they are done in cases such as parents refusing to intervene from the government, they did not do it this time because it was not necessary.



In response to the incident, the city urgently promoted home visits for children at risk of abuse who did not attend nursery schools, etc. doing.



In addition, the Osaka prefectural government plans to set up a subcommittee to verify the government's response, investigate whether the judgment of abuse risk was appropriate, and prepare a report incorporating countermeasures in January next year.

Expert ``The whole family was not sufficiently evaluated''

Bunji Yamagata, a professor at Kansai University who is familiar with the issue of child abuse, said, ``If the Children's Family Center and Tondabayashi City had checked the situation at home and heard stories from people other than the grandmother, I would have noticed more. It is clear that the entire family was not evaluated sufficiently."



On top of that, ``In addition to the interviews, the home visit survey was very important in terms of checking the cleaning status of the room. I think that the possibility of preventing the incident was higher.I would like you to take a lesson from the incident and work on basic actions according to the manual, such as grasping the child's condition, including at home."