Saitama woman given 4-year sentence for drowning ailing parents

FUKAYA, Saitama -- A 47-year-old woman accused of drowning her ailing 81-year-old mother and 74-year-old father in November 2015 was sentenced to four years in prison in a lay judge trial at the Saitama District Court on June 23.

The prosecution had sought an eight-year sentence for defendant Atsuko Namikata. Presiding Judge Satomi Matsubara said, "The fact that two people lost their lives is grave," while adding that Namikata, whose mother had dementia, "deserves leniency for having been dedicated to the care of her mother and very sympathetic to her parents."

According to the ruling, Namikata's father, who had quit his job due to health problems, suggested to her, "Let the three of us die together," and she agreed. On Nov. 21 last year, she drove a car carrying the three of them into the Tone River, and then took her parents out of the car and drowned them.

Namikata admitted to the charges in court. The defense sought a suspended sentence, arguing that Namikata decided to "die as a family because it would be sad to leave her mother who had dementia by herself." Namikata's two older sisters also testified that she was "very close to our mother and worked hard to care for her," and asked that she not be punished.

In the ruling, the presiding judge noted that Namikata "decided to die together after her father, who had lost the will to live after his health rapidly declined, suggested the family commit suicide," but added, "They could have received social aid and continued living," as she handed down Namikata's sentence.

After reading out the ruling, the presiding judge said to Namikata, "Live every day as precious, while remembering the faces of your father and mother who you lived with together as a loving family," and Namikata responded, "Thank you."