Boy dies from 2014 suicide attempt injuries, after child centre declined to remove him from abusive parents
The boy was hospitalised after the suicide attempt in November 2014, but was moved to a nursing home in June last year after doctors said his condition was beyond treatment
A 14-year-old boy died last month as a result of injuries sustained in a 2014 suicide attempt after a child consultation centre southwest of Tokyo declined to remove him from his parents despite evidence of ongoing physical abuse, the centre said on Tuesday.
The centre in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, had the legal authority to take the boy into care without his parents’ consent, but chose not to do so despite his pleas.
The boy was hospitalised after the suicide attempt in November 2014, but was moved to a nursing home in June last year after doctors said his condition was beyond treatment, according to city authorities.
The centre’s director Akira Toritani denied the centre had acted incorrectly on Tuesday, telling a press conference, “We handled [the case] appropriately at the time and judged it was not urgent.”
“There was nothing wrong with our response, but we are taking the [boy’s] suicide very seriously,” Toritani said.
The centre first learned of the boy’s abuse in the fall of 2013, when he was in his final year of elementary school, after school staff reported he had bruises on his face.
At that time, the school and local authorities interviewed the boy and his parents.