3-Year-Old Girl in Japan Dies After Mother Leaves Her Home Alone for a Week to Visit Boyfriend

Saki Kakehashi reportedly admitted to the police that she left her daughter, Noa, in their home in Tokyo’s Ota Ward to visit her boyfriend in Kagoshima Prefecture on June 5, according to Kyodo News.

The police arrested the 24-year-old single mother on suspicion of negligence as a guardian resulting in death, reported Nippon.

 

“She had left home for several days or returned late at night, leaving her daughter unattended,” a friend of the woman told Japanese police.

She reportedly told police she wanted to relax, exhausted from raising her child and left her daughter with tea, food and the air conditioner before taking her eight-day trip.

After returning from her trip on June 13, Kakehashi reportedly called the emergency hotline and said her daughter was not breathing. Noa was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Kakehashi told the authorities she did not expect her daughter to die and that it would be alright for her to be left alone inside their house. The mother initially told police Noa was suffering from an illness, adding that she didn’t have any money to pay for her daughter’s treatment.

In the autopsy report, forensics determined the cause of death as severe dehydration and hunger. Her stomach was also reportedly empty. Noa had thymus atrophy, a condition where the thymus decreases in size. They are usually observed in children who are victims of abuse and/or neglect.

Rashes were also found on the toddler’s bottom, suggesting that her diaper had not been changed for a long time while she was left alone. The toddler had not shown up at her daycare center for more than a year.

The mother allegedly tried to commit suicide after finding her daughter unresponsive, reported Tokyo Reporter.

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