KANAGAWA (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police suspect that a 22-year-old woman and her live-in boyfriend regularly abused her 3-year-old daughter after she was found to have suffered severe burns at their residence in Yokohama, reports TV Asahi (Mar. 6).
On Sunday night, police working off a tip entered the residence of Kaho Hashimoto, of no known occupation, and Satoshi Tanaka, 21, in Tsurumi Ward and found her daughter barely conscious with severe burns to her back.
Hashimoto and Tanaka, who were accused of abandonment as guardians on Monday, admit to the allegations, according to the Tsurumi Police Station. During questioning, they said they “went to play pachinko” at around noon on Sunday.
In explaining the burns suffered by her daughter, Hashimoto said, “I mistakenly turned on the hot water when giving her a shower.”
The injuries to the girl are expected to require three months of medical care, police said.
“I don’t want to go inside”
Also living in the residence in Hashimoto’s 5-year-old son. On the day of the incident, he visited the residence of a neighbor. “Mom is not around,” he reportedly said. After he led the neighbor back to the residence, he began weeping. “I don’t want to go inside,” he said.
After the neighbor alerted police, officers entered the unlocked residence and found the girl sleeping on a futon with plastic wrap covering the length of her back.
Given her age, the body of girl seemed thinner than normal, leading police to suspect that she was regularly neglected by her mother and Tanaka.
