TOKYO, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- The stepfather of a five-year-old girl who died as a result of his abuse and neglect could be facing a prison sentence of 18-years as sought by prosecutors Monday in a high-profile child abuse case that has shocked the nation.
During the prosecution's closing arguments before the Tokyo District Court is set to hand down its ruling on Oct. 15, the actions of the accused, Yudai Funato, 34, were described as "malicious beyond comparison."
"The defendant led the severe abuse. He made the girl suffer from starvation by limiting food. He bullied the victim to such an extent that she had nowhere to escape. The crime's maliciousness is severe beyond comparison," a prosecutor was quoted as saying during closing arguments at the court.
"We have to think about the agony and chagrin of a child who was deprived of her future by her parents," the prosecutor added.
Funato had previously said that his failure to control his emotions and unsuccessful disciplining had triggered the actions that led to the death of the young girl last year.
Funato is charged with assaulting five-year-old Yua at their home in Tokyo's Meguro Ward and depriving her of food from January last year.
According to the indictment, he also failed to take the young girl to hospital for treatment from the assaults and negligence a month later, despite her heath rapidly failing, in a bid to conceal his abusive treatment of his stepdaughter.
He "ran away so as not to confront the reality" out of "self-protection," said the prosecutor.
Yua died of sepsis after developing pneumonia in March last year as a result of the abuse.
Funato, who has admitted to most of the charges, it has been found, abused his stepdaughter for not living up to his high standards and routinely deprived the girl of food and sleep.
On one occasion, he had become livid at his young stepdaughter for sleeping when he had instructed her to learn how to tell the time on a clock towards the end of February last year and forced her to wake up at 4:00 a.m.
Having been dragged to the bath by her neck, she was reportedly forced to apologize while being held down and sprayed with cold water from the shower head, the court heard.
Yua was emaciated at the time of her death weighing just 12 kg and was bearing 170 injuries on her body.
Funato admitted he did not feed her carbohydrates or protein including meat or fish.
Prosecutors have said that notes left behind by Yua saying "Please forgive me" were indications the child was begging for the abuse to stop.
Yua's mother, Yuri Funato, 27, it has been found, was aware that her young daughter was being abused by her husband at the time.
In September, the Tokyo District Court handed down an eight-year prison sentence for parental neglect resulting in death, although prosecutors were seeking an 11-year prison sentence and said that as a parent she had failed to do even the "bare minimum" to protect her daughter's life.
Yua's death along with the fatal abuse of 10-year-old Mia Kurihara in Tokyo's neighboring prefecture of Chiba in January this year, also as a result of being physically assaulted and deprived of food and sleep, led to the government revising laws banning parents from physically punishing children.
In June, Japan enacted a revised law banning parents and guardians from physically punishing children amid rising cases of abuse nationwide.
The new revised law was instituted amid damning national child abuse statistics and in the wake of the tragic death of Yua.
According to figures from the National Police Agency (NPA), suspected abuse cases involving minors aged below 18 years old reported by the police to child welfare officials stood at a record-high of 80,104 in 2018.
The figure has not only risen above the 80,000 mark for the first time since comparable data became available and increased by 22.4 percent from a year earlier, but is also more than a 2.8-fold increase compared to figures from five years ago, the NPA said.
The government plans to ensure that the majority of the contents of the revised law will be effective by next April.
