Shiga couple gets 7 years for fatally abusing 2-year-old daughter with steel bar, hot water

The Otsu District Court on Friday sentenced a couple in Takashima, Shiga Prefecture, to seven years in prison for fatally abusing their 2-year-old daughter by pouring hot water on her last year. Handing down the ruling on Kenta Nagasaka, 25, and his wife Chizuru, 26, Presiding Judge Hidenori Nagai said, "It was a selfish and shortsighted crime. The defendants do not seem to feel any compassion to their daughter while mental and physical pains she suffered are unimaginable."

According to the ruling, the couple, frustrated by their daughter Yuna taking too much time to eat meals, repeatedly hit her with a steel bar or poured hot water on her since late May. Yuna died July 5 due to septicemia resulting from burns.