TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested an organized crime member for the beating death of the 3-year-old son of his girlfriend in Ota Ward, reports TBS News (Jan. 28).
On Monday evening, Naoya Nagatomo, a 20-year-old member of the Sumiyoshi-kai, allegedly beat Ayato Arai over a two-hour period inside the apartment they share with his 22-year-old mother.
Early Thursday morning, the boy’s mother telephoned emergency services. Medical personnel arriving at the apartment found the boy lying atop a futon and in a state of cardio-respiratory arrest. About 90 minutes after being taken to a nearby hospital, he was confirmed dead.
The results of an autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a subdural hematoma brought about by severe blows to the head.
Nagatomo, who has been charged with assault, admits to the allegations. “While the three of us were eating dinner, he scowled. I got angry, flew into a rage and hit him in the head,” the suspect is quoted by officers from the Omori Police Station, according to NHK (Jan. 27).
The mother initially told medical personnel that the boy had hurt himself by “falling off a slide” after they noticed bruises throughout his body and blood coming from his ear. Officers later questioned Nagatomo and received a confession to the crime, according to the Mainichi Shimbun (Jan. 27).
The woman met the suspect through a social-networking service in June of last year. Nagatomo moved into the apartment on January 8.
Police are now seeking to apply manslaughter charges to Nagatomo.
