Japanese mum arrested for trying to starve 9-year-old daughter
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The 9-year-old was not given meals from Jan 22 to 27. She suffered from ketonic hypoglycemia and was hospitalized for six days.
PHOTO: UNSPLASH
OSAKA – The Osaka prefectural police arrested a 34-year-old woman on Tuesday on suspicion that she withheld meals from her nine-year-old daughter and caused the girl to be hospitalised with the aim of swindling mutual aid money.
The police arrested Kasumi Nawata, a part-time worker in Daito, Osaka Prefecture, on suspicion of fraud, alleging that she had withheld meals from her daughter, a third-grade elementary school pupil, causing the girl to suffer from ketonic hypoglycaemia.
The daughter had been hospitalised 43 times since 2018, and Nawata received a total of about 5.7 million yen (S$54,150) during the period as mutual aid payments and insurance benefits.
The police were investigating the case on suspicion that Nawata intentionally had not given her daughter enough food and repeatedly had her hospitalised with the aim of obtaining the money.
In cases of ketonic hypoglycaemia, which can be caused by prolonged fasting, substances called ketone bodies reach elevated levels in the blood.
Sufferers can develop such symptoms as cramps and vomiting. In serious cases, they can fall into impaired consciousness.
According to the police announcement, Nawata gave no meals to her daughter from Jan 22 to 27. The daughter suffered from ketonic hypoglycaemia and was hospitalised for six days.
At the time, Nawata received 60,000 yen from a mutual aid organisation as aid money for the hospitalisation.
Nawata denied the police’s allegation, saying: “I did not intentionally make (my daughter) suffer from hypoglycaemia.”
From Jan 19 to 21, before being hospitalised, the daughter is thought to have taken in a total of 700 calories of nutrition.
Under the central government’s guidelines, this figure accounts for only about 13 per cent of the calories needed for three days by a child of the daughter’s age.
It is thought that the girl ate a school lunch on Jan 19, ate nothing on Jan 20, and had only sweets on Jan 21.
On Feb 5, a nurse at the hospital where the daughter was being treated overheard the girl speaking with Nawata using a mobile phone’s speaker function.
Nawata is said to have intimidated the girl, telling her: “Don’t eat anything. Keep lying down.”
Hospital officials notified a child consultation centre of the situation on Feb 6.
On Feb 9, the child consultation centre placed the daughter under its protection on suspicion of neglect by the mother and notified the prefectural police.
The police said the girl’s health condition has been improving.
The police suspect that Nawata spent the money she received from the mutual aid scheme on eating out and beauty salon treatments. THE JAPAN NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
