OSAKA (TR) – Osaka Prefectural Police have arrested a married couple over the alleged fatal assault of their 9-year-old son in Sakai City earlier this year, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (Aug. 2).
On February 16 and 17, Tetsuya Fukamoto, a 35-year-old company employee, and his wife, 34-year-old Yuko, are alleged to have conspired to assault their eldest son, Haruki, in the abdomen at their residence.
On the morning of the 17th, Yuko alerted emergency services, saying that Haruki “was not breathing.” The boy was later confirmed dead at a hospital. The results of an autopsy revealed that he died due to an irregular heartbeat caused by blunt trauma to the abdomen, police said.
Both suspects, who were arrested on suspicion of murder on Thursday, deny the allegations, police said.
The body of the boy did not exhibit any external wounds. However, it is the opinion of multiple doctors that Haruki was assaulted such that his abdomen was pressed down for a certain period of time, police said.
Prior to his arrest, Fukamoto said that he was not at home during the incident due to work-related obligations. “By no means did I think he would collapse in the morning,” the suspect was quoted by Fuji News Network (Aug. 2). When asked about the cause of death of her son, Yuko, a day care worker with the municipal government, said, “With him not having a disease, I have no idea at all.”
