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REPORT- Mother on trial for suffocating 5-year-old son over Nintendo DS argument
TOKYO — A 42-year-old mother of four has gone on trial in Tokyo, accused of killing her five-year-old son.
On the evening of Sept 1, 2012, allegedly feeling under pressure from work and suffering from lack of sleep, Shigeta was angered to find the living room floor of their family home littered with toys. Grabbing a garbage bag, she began tidying up, stuffing her son’s Nintendo DS in the bag in the process. She headed to bed soon after, hoping to sleep late the next day as it was a Sunday. As she had done on several nights prior to the incident, the seemingly troubled mother swallowed a sleeping pill, washing it down with a glass of shochu whiskey and water.
When Shigeta rose the next morning, she found her third son, Koshi, in the living room already up and about. When his mother entered the living room, he immediately asked her for his missing Nintendo DS.
Like any good parent, Shigeta resolved to teach her son that it was not acceptable to spend his days simply doing exactly as he pleased and not tidying up after himself. Angered by her son’s tone and, she maintains, still drowsy from the pills she had taken, however, the mother’s response to her son’s request was far from normal.
“Would you rather breathe or play DS?” she asked the young boy.
Perhaps not sensing his mother’s tone, or, as many young boys do, simply refusing to cooperate after not getting his own way, Koushi replied, “I’d rather play DS.”
Further angered by his words, Shigeta grabbed the boy and bound his hands and feet with plastic twine, then covered both his mouth and eyes with tape. Finally, she pulled a garbage bag over the boy’s head and thrust his feet into another, drawing them together at his waist and sealing them shut.
Full report here
On the evening of Sept 1, 2012, allegedly feeling under pressure from work and suffering from lack of sleep, Shigeta was angered to find the living room floor of their family home littered with toys. Grabbing a garbage bag, she began tidying up, stuffing her son’s Nintendo DS in the bag in the process. She headed to bed soon after, hoping to sleep late the next day as it was a Sunday. As she had done on several nights prior to the incident, the seemingly troubled mother swallowed a sleeping pill, washing it down with a glass of shochu whiskey and water.
When Shigeta rose the next morning, she found her third son, Koshi, in the living room already up and about. When his mother entered the living room, he immediately asked her for his missing Nintendo DS.
Like any good parent, Shigeta resolved to teach her son that it was not acceptable to spend his days simply doing exactly as he pleased and not tidying up after himself. Angered by her son’s tone and, she maintains, still drowsy from the pills she had taken, however, the mother’s response to her son’s request was far from normal.
“Would you rather breathe or play DS?” she asked the young boy.
Perhaps not sensing his mother’s tone, or, as many young boys do, simply refusing to cooperate after not getting his own way, Koushi replied, “I’d rather play DS.”
Further angered by his words, Shigeta grabbed the boy and bound his hands and feet with plastic twine, then covered both his mouth and eyes with tape. Finally, she pulled a garbage bag over the boy’s head and thrust his feet into another, drawing them together at his waist and sealing them shut.