KYODO NEWS - Oct 1, 2019 - 17:39 | All, Japan

The stepfather of a 5-year-old girl admitted to assault and neglect leading to the child's death last year during his first court hearing Tuesday at the Tokyo District Court.

Yudai Funato, 34, said, "That is correct," when Presiding Judge Minoru Morishita asked about his indictment over the fatal abuse of his stepdaughter Yua, who was assaulted and deprived of food in Tokyo's Meguro Ward from around late January last year.

The child died on March 2 that year from sepsis after developing pneumonia. Funato, his cheeks sunken and wearing a suit that hung loosely over his frame, answered the judge in a quiet voice.

(A man puts his hands together in Tokyo on March 2, 2019, in front of a photo of Yua Funato, who died a year earlier at age 5 after abuse and neglect she had suffered by her parents.)

Yua had been living in Kagawa Prefecture in western Japan before moving to Tokyo in January 2018 with her mother Yuri, 27, and younger brother to join Funato, who had moved the month before.

Prosecutors say that's when Funato's abuse became worse, with him physically abusing the young girl for failing to live up to difficult demands, including waking up at 4 a.m.

He limited his stepdaughter's food intake and rarely allowed her leave the apartment during her final 39 days of life. The girl was greatly emaciated and had 170 injuries on her body at the time of death, they said.

Although Funato admitted to most of the charges, he claims he only realized Yua's health was in a critical state on March 1, just before her death, contradicting the prosecutors' claim that he knew she was in bad shape days earlier.

According to the indictment, Funato failed to take the girl to the hospital in late February last year, when her condition seriously deteriorated as a result of his physical abuse, for fear that his abuse would come to light.

"The accused had high ideals for his family and began to snap at them," the defense counsel told the court. "He didn't abuse (them) because (they) were in the way."

"We'd like you to decide upon an appropriate sentence," the counsel said.

The court sentenced Yua's mother Yuri, who is now divorced from Funato, to an eight-year prison term last month for parental neglect resulting in the child's death, while acknowledging the woman also suffered psychological abuse at the hands of her husband. She appealed the ruling on Monday.

She is set to testify in the case against Funato on Thursday.

Funato entered the court shortly before 10 a.m., appearing nervous and blinking frequently. He clenched his fists and bit his lip when he moved to the stand, nodding weakly when asked if he knew about his right to remain silent.

He hung his head for the duration of the hearing, his face red as he cried into a handkerchief while listening to the defense counsel's statement.

A total of 457 people lined up for a chance to get one of only 17 seats available to the public for watching the hearing.

Funato was charged in July last year with marijuana possession. That case will also be tried at the same court.

The girl's death attracted nationwide attention and prompted Japan to enact revised laws in June this year banning parents and guardians from physically punishing children and strengthening the ability of child welfare centers to intervene in cases where abuse is suspected.

Yua left behind written messages such as "Please forgive me" on a sheet of paper, which prosecutors regarded as pleas for her mistreatment to stop.

The girl had been taken into protective custody by a child welfare center in Kagawa twice. Another center in Tokyo tried to check on the girl in February last year, but her mother refused to let the officials see her.

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Mother admits to neglect in death of 5-yr-old in high-profile abuse case