24-year-old man from Gunma allegedly drowned newborn in bathtub

GUNMA (TR) – Gunma Prefectural Police on Friday arrested a 24-year-old man who allegedly drowned a newborn baby in a bathtub in Ibaraki Prefecture two years ago.

At the end of June 2022, Yamato Morita is said to have drowned the newborn girl in a bathtub in an apartment in Joso City.

Morita lives in the town of Nakanojo in Gunma. The child was born to a 22-year-old woman with whom he was living at the time.

According to NHK (September 20), Morita admitted the allegations in his comment on the murder charges, police said.

“I left it with a friend”

According to police, the woman visited a medical facility in Gunma Prefecture last March. After telling staff there that she was pregnant again, she added: “This is our second child, and I left our eldest daughter in a care facility. [home].”

Later, officials from Nakanojo City Hall continued to question the suspect and his wife about the whereabouts of the first child. Eventually, one of them said, “We don't have the money to take care of her, so we left her with an acquaintance.”

After further efforts to find the child failed, Nakanojo City Hall handed the case over to police on July 3. “We have a small child whose whereabouts cannot be confirmed,” officials said.

During questioning, Morita and the woman said they had disposed of the baby's body in a garbage dump area next to the apartment.

On August 29, police arrested the couple on suspicion of abandoning a corpse. The investigation then turned to Morita on suspicion of murder.

On September 19, prosecutors dropped the neglect charges.