May 30 (Japan Times) - A 45-year-old man was arrested Wednesday for the alleged use of a shock collar to discipline his three children, police said, the latest in a series of child abuse cases that have prompted legislators to seek a ban on corporal punishment.
Takahiro Goto in the city of Kitakyushu told police he used a shock collar on his two daughters, aged 17 and 13, and 12-year-old son “when they didn’t follow the rules,†police said.
Police officials said the suspect ordered his children to place a shock collar, used to train pets, on their bodies and controlled it remotely.
The boy suffered a minor burn on his arm and there were no visible injuries on the girls, a police official said.
The case surfaced after the elder daughter told her vocational school teacher in February that she has been abused by her father via a shock collar, according to police. The school then reported the statement to a child consultation center and the center took the children under its protection.
A series of high-profile child abuse cases in recent years has shaken Japan, including the death last year of a 5-year-old girl, Yua Funato, whose father allegedly beat and starved her in the name of discipline.
