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Sankei Shimbun, June 10th, 2011

The Kobe district court sentenced a 5-year prison to a woman for the assault causing death of her 5-year-old stepdaughter.

On June 9th, the decision in the public trial by lay judges of the stepmother, Hiroko Teramoto (28) was handled down in the Kobe district court. She was found guilty of injuring resulting in death, that is, she grabbed the 5-year-old daughter's head, shook it violently and killed her in November of 2009 at their home in Mita City, Kobe. The presiding judge Tetsuya Okuda adjudicated a five-year prison sentence noting that the causing consequences of her crime were serious. The prosecution demanded a sentence of 8-year. The defendant Teramoto appealed on the same day.
The defendant Teramoto stated that "I didn't assault my daughter", and denied the content of the prosecution. "Because she had lost consciousness at home, I shook her body to wake her," she explained at the public trial. The defense had pleaded not-guilty, insisting there was a possibility it was an accident in their home.
In the reasons for the judgment, the presiding judge Okuda recognized the cause of death as being a cut to the blood vessel of the head caused by the act of another person shaking the head. The insistence of the defendant Teramoto that she shook her body was dismissed, saying that "It is unnatural as a lifesaving act, and cannot be believed ".

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