TOTTORI (TR) – At a hearing at the Tottori District Court on Thursday, the prosecution announced that it is seeking a prison term for a 35-year-old woman accused of dumping the bodies of two infants, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Nov. 24).
The prosecution said it is seeking a prison of two years and six months in the case against Aya Nanba, who has been accused of dumping infants in a wooded area and at her residence.
“The crimes were committed repeatedly for selfish reasons: to hide extra-marital sex and the births,” the prosecution said in its closing argument. “There are no circumstances to consider.”
Nanba told the court that she considered suicide. “But I thought I had no choice in protecting the lives of the children,” she said, according to TV Asahi (Nov. 25).
On June 6, a cleaning crew found a plastic bag containing an infant with its umbilical cord in a grove of trees along a prefectural road in the Iwamhicho area. Tottori Prefectural Police subsequently arrested Nanba on charges of abandoning a corpse.
During the investigation, a subsequent search of her residence, located in the same area, revealed the body of a baby in a storage space.
The defense is seeking a suspended sentence, arguing that “the infants died before they were abandoned.”
The decision in the trial is expected on December 15.
