From joy to murder and suicide: A Japanese mother gets a second chance after her son wakes up from suffocation

FUKUOKA – In October 2023, a woman from Fukuoka Prefecture in southwestern Japan wrapped her son’s cell phone charging cable around her neck at home and tried to strangle him with it. When he lost consciousness, she called the police and confessed by cutting her neck with a knife. But the next moment something unexpected happened: Her son regained consciousness and went to the phone, asking the officer on the other end of the line, “Take us to the hospital. Mom is bleeding from her neck. Don’t let her die.” ”

This is according to the court files of a single mother accused of attempted murder after strangling her 9-year-old son and trying to take her own life.

The boy and his mother were taken to hospital, their lives were saved, and then the woman was arrested. Her son had a mild intellectual disability, and the woman’s parents were elderly and needed care, which at one point burdened her with the responsibility of caring for two generations.

Falling into despair

In room no. 905 of the Fukuoka District Court in May 2024, before prosecutors filed a motion to punish the woman, a recording of her emergency call was played. “I’m sorry. I killed my son,” she said in a lifeless tone.

During the trial, the woman’s upbringing was in the spotlight.

“When did you think you wanted to die?” the lawyer asked her.

“About the summer (2023),” she replied. “Life’s difficulties began to overwhelm me. I’m stuck in a spiral that won’t stop.

The woman gave birth to her son in 2014 as a single mother and lived with her aging parents in their home. The woman’s mother was bedridden for a week a month due to severe schizophrenia. Meanwhile, her father had a stroke around 2017, after which he suffered from sequelae, including paralysis of the right side of his body.

The woman herself suffered from numerous mental disorders, including insomnia, and after giving birth, she was also diagnosed with rheumatism. She earned her living by working in a pet store, raising her son on her own and taking care of her parents.

However, in December 2022, about a year before the attempted murder-suicide, the woman and her son began living alone because her parents were placed in foster care. During the trial, her defense attorney asked if that lightened her burden. She replied: “My parents, whom I loved, were no longer in our home and I felt as if I had been left alone. There was no one left to talk to, and a huge hole opened in my heart.”

Eating one energy bar a day

Although the burden of “double care” decreased, the woman’s mental condition worsened. After leaving her job in August 2023, her insomnia worsened. She doubled her medication, but still only managed to sleep about two hours a night. Each day she ate only one bowl of rice or one CalorieMate nutritional energy bar. She lost 12 kilograms and weighed only 36 kilograms.

“Have you talked to anyone about your suicidal thoughts?” – asked her lawyer.

“Yes,” she said, “but I was told (by a staff member at the after-school center my son attended) that it was depression, so I shouldn’t make any moves or anything that would force me. I reached out anyway, for some reason I felt like I was completely rejected and I just lost my vision for the future.

– What about the possibility of going to the hospital? – asked the lawyer.

“I wanted to,” she replied, “but when I talked to my son about it, he said, ‘I don’t want to be alone. I’ll make sure you don’t have to go to the hospital. “”

The woman also sent an SOS signal to a doctor at the hospital she visited, but was only prescribed medication for depression. She tried to call the suicide prevention hotline, where volunteers listen to people with problems, but she couldn’t get through.

“The day before the incident, there was a choir recital (for your son),” the lawyer noted.

“He gave it his all, singing louder than the friends around him. I thought he tried very hard and that he had grown,” the woman recalls.

However, the very next day she tried to kill him.

It was a very ordinary Sunday. Her son ate toast for breakfast and asked her to make fried rice with eggs for lunch. After breakfast, when the woman wrapped her arms around him in bed, he talked until he fell asleep about the kinds of cars he loved.

“What happiness,” the woman thought, looking at her son’s face. But at the same time, she couldn’t suppress her conflicting feelings: “I did everything I could. I don’t want to live. I want to rest.”

Thinking about her son, she thought, “I can’t leave him alone.” She grabbed a nearby cell phone charging cable and wrapped it around his neck. “I thought about it over and over again, picking up the item only to put it down again,” she recalled. “No, I’m not allowed to do that. But I don’t want to live,” she hesitated and began to tighten the rope.

“Mom, it hurts,” her son pleaded.

“Sorry. Won’t you die with me?” she replied.

More than a minute has passed. She wanted to confirm that her son was unconscious and then cut her own neck, but maybe because she hesitated somewhere inside, the planned murder-suicide ended in a simple attempt.

When asked why she tried to kill her son and take her own life, she recalls: “I sent an SOS signal many times and wanted someone to help us. I think I had to reach further, but I had exhausted my strength. ”

After the incident, the woman’s son was placed in an orphanage. During the trial, the letters he wrote to her were read:

“Dear mother, you have always been nice to me. I miss you, but I’m trying my best.”

“Dear Mom, how are you? Let’s meet again.”

In their final statements, prosecutors criticized the woman for easily thinking about her son’s sacrifice and noted that her son wanted to live with her.

Prosecutors make an unusual request for a sentence

Instead of the harsh sentence they could have sought, prosecutors who charged the woman took a rare step and asked for a three-year suspended sentence with probation.

In her last statement, the woman repeatedly apologized for her behavior and revealed that she wanted to live with her son again. “I constantly regretted my actions. The most painful thing was that I laid my hand on my son. I want to put my life back together. I want to live with my beloved son,” she said.

On May 30, presiding judge Atsushi Tomita sentenced the woman to three years in prison, suspended for four years with probation. The ruling criticized her, noting: “Attempting to take a child’s life based on one-sided thinking is not something that can be forgiven,” but further stated: “Given the circumstances that led her to think she would not may leave the victim is left behind, the full blame cannot be placed solely on the accused.”

After the ruling, the presiding judge said: “To live as a family, sometimes you have to ask for help (from people around you). Please take your time and move forward slowly.” The verdict was passed without an appeal.

During the trial, the woman reportedly stated, “I don’t want another case like mine to happen.” Her lawyer stated: “The woman sent out an SOS signal, but the social safety net completely failed to catch her. If the people around her had sought help, this incident could have been prevented.”

(Japanese original: Kazuya Shimura, Kyushu News Department)