Ibaraki mother admits to fatally stabbing 2 children

IBARAKI (TR) – A 42-year-old mother accused of murdering her two young children at their home in Mito City admitted to the charges during her first trial on Wednesday, while her defense team sought an acquittal on the grounds of insanity, reports TBS News (Oct. 15)

“There is no mistake,” Akiko Ota told the court, acknowledging the indictment against her.

Ota is accused of using a kitchen knife to fatally stab her 8-year-old son, Tsuguma, and her 5-year-old daughter, Riko, in the neck at their apartment in Mito City in July 2023.

During the hearing, prosecutors outlined a grim motive driven by workplace grievances and severe mental distress. They stated that Ota had grown deeply dissatisfied with a shift in management policy at the restaurant where she worked. This triggered a severe distrust of others and ultimately drove her to contemplate suicide.

According to the prosecution, Ota tragically reasoned, “My children cannot live without me. If we die, we can be together in heaven.”

While prosecutors acknowledged that Ota’s mental state had some influence on the crime, they argued that the impact was “not significant” and maintained that she is fully criminally responsible for the brutal slayings.

Conversely, Ota’s defense team argued for a complete acquittal, claiming that the mother was in a state of mental incompetence at the time of the killings and therefore cannot be held criminally liable.

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茨城（TR）——据TBS新闻（10月15日）报道，一名42岁的母亲被控在水户市的家中谋杀了自己的两个年幼的孩子，她在周三的首次庭审中承认了指控，而她的辩护团队则以精神错乱为由寻求无罪释放。

“毫无疑问，”大田明子在法庭上承认了对她的起诉。

大田被指控于 2023 年 7 月在水户市的公寓里，用菜刀刺死了她 8 岁的儿子 Tsuguma 和 5 岁的女儿 Riko 的脖子。

在庭审中，检方阐述了奥塔因工作不满和严重的精神痛苦而导致的悲剧性自杀动机。他们指出，奥塔对她所工作的餐厅管理政策的改变深感不满，这引发了她对他人极度的不信任，并最终导致她萌生了自杀的念头。

据检方称，大田悲惨地说道：“我的孩子们不能没有我。如果我们死了，我们就可以在天堂团聚。”

虽然检察官承认大田的精神状态对犯罪有一定影响，但他们认为这种影响“并不显著”，并坚持认为她应对这起残忍的杀戮负有全部刑事责任。

相反，大田的辩护团队则主张完全无罪释放，声称母亲在杀人时处于精神不健全状态，因此不能承担刑事责任。

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