The first hearing in the lay-judge trial of Satsuki Naito, 29, charged with murder, opened at the Tokyo District Court on October 21. Naito is accused of cutting her 3-month-old daughter with a kitchen knife at the family's apartment in Tokyo and killing her.
Naito entered court in a wheelchair pushed by a female prison officer, wearing black tinted glasses and her hair tied back. She appeared composed until the start of proceedings approached, when she began to cry. Asked her occupation, she said she was unemployed, and she acknowledged the charges against her were correct.
She has osteogenesis imperfecta, a congenital condition that makes bones fragile, and stands just under 110 centimeters tall. She worked at a cabaret club and as an influencer while using a wheelchair, and her husband appeared in character as "Danna-kun" on her YouTube channel, Naito Satsuki jp, in voice only.
What the prosecution says
According to the prosecution's opening statement, Naito cut and killed her daughter, Yua, in the bathtub at home on November 3 last year, then called 110 herself. The defense said Naito tried to die with her daughter after her relationship with her husband deteriorated and she could not get enough support from public services.
The couple registered their marriage in March 2025 and Yua was born in August, weighing 1,500 grams and spending time in hospital as a premature baby. The three began living together after Yua left hospital in October, and arguments between the parents increased from then, the prosecution said.
The relationship quickly cooled, and any conversation turned into a quarrel. When her husband raised divorce on the premise that he would have custody, the argument brought police to the home. Custody was to be fought in court, and until it was decided the parents took turns caring for Yua a week at a time.
The defense account
The defense said in its opening statement that Naito's motive was the belief that she had no choice but to die with her daughter. Naito's parents divorced when she was in junior high school, and she and her brother and sister went with their mother, moving in with her father after graduating from high school. She trained as a medical clerk and worked in the field, but a thighbone operation and the depression that followed kept her from staying long.
She later worked at girls' bars and cabaret clubs. She met her husband, then a host, in March 2021 and they began dating that June. She learned she was pregnant in January 2025 and they registered their marriage in March. The relationship was never peaceful, and he was violent toward her during the pregnancy, according to the account given in court.
After the birth, small things escalated into arguments, and police were called on November 1. With Naito's mother and brother present, she and her husband discussed divorce. It became clear she would struggle to win custody, and she came to feel that the only way to stay with Yua was to die with her.
Naito filled the bathtub and took a large quantity of sleeping pills, intending to drown while holding Yua. She got into the water in a dazed state but did not die. When she next became aware, she said, Yua was fatally injured. She came to her senses, thought she had done something terrible, and called 110 herself. In later questioning she had no memory of cutting Yua.