SAITAMA (TR) – A court here has handed a Chinese woman a suspended prison term over the concealment of the corpse of her infant son inside a freezer last year, reports the Saitama Shimbun (March 30).
At the Saitama District Court on Monday, presiding judge Masanari Kuramoto said that the woman, 28, acted in disregard “for the feelings of the dead” in handing down a 22-month prison term, suspended for two years.
The defendant was accused of abandoning a corpse. The prosecution had sought a two-year term. There was no mention of the cause of death.
“In the freezer”
On November 26, police entered the residence in Kawaguchi City and found the body of the boy inside the freezer.
The city government and a local child guidance center contacted police the day before. “We are unable to confirm the well-being of the boy after his birth in July,” one of the offices said.
When police visited the residence, the defendant said, “[The boy] is in the freezer.”
According to the ruling, the defendant put the body of the boy in the freezer on July 31, 2020.
During the trial, the woman said that she acted out of fear that the child’s birth and death would be revealed to her husband.
In handing down the ruling, judge Kuramoto said the motive claimed by the defendant was “difficult to understand, all things considered.”
