TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 31-year-old woman for allegedly suffocating her 2-year-old son with a mattress at their residence in Machida City, reports TV Asahi (June 25).
Between 8:50 p.m. and 9:40 p.m. on Tuesday, Haruka Takeda, left Sotaro wrapped inside the mattress on the second floor of the residence.
After Takeda found him to be not breathing, she alerted police. The boy was confirmed dead at a hospital at around 11:15 p.m.
Upon her arrest on suspicion of murder on Wednesday, Takeda denied the allegations. “I was worried about his crying disturbing the neighborhood. So I wrapped him in the futon, but I didn’t intend to kill,” the suspect was quoted by police.
The mattress weighs 4.8 kilograms. Takeda later told police that she had used the same technique in the past to get the boy to stop crying. “I thought it would be fine,” she said.
Also living at the residence are Takeda’s husband, 37, and Sotaro’s twin sister. Prior to the incident, all four persons were on the first floor of the residence. Once Sotaro started crying, Takeda took him upstairs.
