A Japanese man has been arrested for allegedly killing his girlfriend’s three-year-old boy by locking him in the shower and burning him with scalding hot water until he died.
Takumi Matsubara, 23, allegedly killed his girlfriend’s young son, Orito Niimura, by burning him with extremely hot water in the Japanese city of Settsu on 31st August.
The news site Asahi reports that the authorities believe Orito was locked in a shower by the suspect and burnt all over his body with the scalding water for at least five minutes.
The youngster then died after going into shock.
According to Asahi, Matsubara was taken into custody earlier today (24th September).
The suspect reportedly told the police he did not mean to kill the boy, claiming: “I was playing and gradually raising the (water) temperature to see how (Orito) would react if I kept the hot shower running.”
He then claims to have left the boy in the shower with the water temperature set to around 60 degrees Celsius whilst he stepped outside for a cigarette.
The maximum temperature the water in the apartment’s shower can be set to is reportedly 75 degrees Celsius.
According to Matsubara’s version of events, he finally called the emergency services after returning from smoking.
The emergency services took the boy to hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving.
The boy’s mum had previously reported Matsubara to the authorities on numerous occasions for beating her son, still according to Asahi.
The mother, who was not named, is believed to have called the police after Matsubara allegedly brutally beat the youngster back in May.
The authorities then got in touch with the boy’s nursery, which confirmed that he often came to school covered in bruises.
In June, another complaint was made, this time by an unnamed family friend, who told cops that if they did not intervene, Matsubara would end up killing the boy.
According to local media, the authorities failed to intervene because Matsubara was not officially living in the same household as the mum and her child.
The investigation is ongoing and the suspect is being held in preventive custody.
