Mie man held for beating boy, forcing him to sleep on top of dog house

A 45-year-old man was arrested for child abuse in Kumano, Mie Prefecture, on Monday. The man, identified as Yuji Matsui, beat the 9-year-old son of the woman with whom he lives, with a cutting board and injured him with a pen over a two-week period. The boy was also forced to sleep on top of a dog house and to use the bathroom at a train station a few hundred meters away from home because he could not keep it clean, Matsui told police.

Matsui has been living with the woman and her son since November last year. Matsui was quoted by police as saying: "I did it to discipline him, but I went too far."