Prosecutors asked the Tokyo District Court for a 10-year prison term for Satsuki Naito, 29, a wheelchair-using influencer who killed her 3-month-old daughter in the bath at her Setagaya home, while her defense argued for a suspended sentence.
The lay-judge panel heard closing arguments and the prosecution's sentencing request on November 5. Naito is charged with murder. The court has not yet ruled.
According to the defense, Naito had reached the end of her endurance and tried to kill herself and her daughter together in the bathroom. She said she could not go on without her child.
Defense cites attachment disorder and possible postpartum depression
The defense focused on Naito's upbringing and her unstable state at the time of the killing. She has osteogenesis imperfecta, a congenital condition that leaves bones fragile, and is about 110 centimeters tall.
Her physical disability meant her bond with her mother never fully formed in early childhood, the defense argued, leaving her with "attachment disorder" — a lasting difficulty in forming secure emotional bonds — and a lack of emotional stability. The defense also pointed to possible postpartum depression and presented testimony that she was severely unstable mentally when the killing took place.
The defense further argued that she was isolated, with no adequate support from public authorities.
Marriage collapsed in the days before the killing
The couple's relationship deteriorated rapidly, and Naito raised the idea of divorce two days before the killing, according to a reporter covering the Justice Ministry for a national newspaper.
On the day of the killing, the two families met to talk, and the parents agreed to leave custody to the court's judgment. Until then they had arranged to alternate child care week by week.
Naito despaired of winning custody given her physical condition, the defense said, and her thoughts turned darker. An acquaintance of Naito, interviewed by NEWS Post Seven shortly after the killing, said she had told people that when a marital dispute brought police to the couple, an officer told her to leave the child to her husband.
Prosecution calls the killing extremely cruel
Prosecutors condemned the killing as "extremely cruel, inflicting more pain than was needed to take her life," citing the number of wounds on the baby's body.
The defense gave this account of what happened.
“At first she intended to drown her daughter in the bathtub, and brought the knife in case she could not go through with her own death. She was groggy from sleeping pills, and she herself says she has no memory of cutting her daughter with the knife.”the defense, closing argument at the Tokyo District Court
The defense also argued that Naito called 110 herself and surrendered, and that this should count in her favor. It asked for 3 years in prison, suspended for 5 years with probation.
The court is expected to rule after considering both sides' arguments.