WAKAYAMA (TR) — A couple who frequently posted videos of their “happy” family on YouTube admitted in court to abusing and starving their 2-year-old daughter to death, with the mother claiming she lost affection for the toddler because the child “looked like her,” reports Kansai TV (July 3).
Nanami Taira, 26, and her husband Haruru, 26, appeared at the Wakayama District Court for the start of their lay judge trial. Both defendants pleaded guilty to the charge of guardian abandonment resulting in death, telling the court, “There is no mistake” in the indictment.
According to prosecutors, the couple subjected their eldest daughter, Runa, to daily violence, deprived her of sufficient food, and denied her medical care until she died in July of last year. At the time of her death, the emaciated toddler weighed just six kilograms — roughly half the average weight of a two-year-old—and the skin on her lower jaw had been torn.
“She stinks so bad”
The grim reality inside the home contrasted sharply with the couple’s online presence. They regularly uploaded videos to YouTube portraying a loving family life, with Haruru heard in one holiday video cheerfully asking, “Will Santa come today, Runa?”
However, Line messages presented by the prosecution painted a picture of grotesque neglect. In May of last year, frustrated by the child’s incontinence, Haruru texted his wife: “She stinks so bad, it’s the worst. She’s more of a nuisance than a cat.” Nanami replied, “She really is just someone who creates unnecessary work.”
Prosecutors allege that around this time, Nanami began subjecting the toddler to daily physical abuse, using the child as an outlet for stress.
As Runa’s condition deteriorated, the parents referred to their dying daughter as an “idiot.” Three days before the toddler’s death, Haruru texted Nanami: “Isn’t her body acting weird? Her intestines are going to burst soon.”
The following day, Haruru messaged, “How’s the idiot?” to which Nanami callously replied, “I made the idiot drink water and put her to sleep.” Prosecutors also noted that the couple coordinated their stories to cover their tracks after the child died.
“She stinks so bad”
During questioning on July 1, a tearful Nanami blamed the escalating abuse on her own severe inferiority complex, which she said was triggered by a comment from her husband’s relative.
“They looked at Runa’s face and said, ‘The eldest son is cuter after all,'” Nanami told the court. “I thought she wouldn’t be loved because she looks like me. I lost my affection for Runa.”
Weeping on the stand, the mother added, “I started wanting to be away from her, and I didn’t want anyone to see her.”
