Osaka girl says she was fed only once per day during confinement

Nov 25, 2019 | News On Japan

Nov 25, 2019 (Japan Today) - A 12-year-old girl who was missing for almost a week after arranging to meet with her alleged kidnapper has said that food and bathing were restricted during the time she was confined in his home, police said Sunday.

"It was around one meal per day and one bath every two days," the girl was quoted as saying by a police official. She had been missing since Nov. 17 and showed up Saturday at a police box in Oyama, Tochigi Prefecture, more than 400 kilometers from her home in Osaka.

The girl has told the police that she became acquainted with the suspect, Hitoshi Ito, on social media around Nov 10. and they decided to meet in a park in Osaka four or five days later.

The 35-year-old man, who was arrested Saturday, sent a message asking the elementary school sixth grader to come to his house in Oyama, according to the police. He has denied the allegations against him.

Ito also said in the message that another girl had been in his house for about six months and he wanted the girl from Osaka to be "a conversation partner" for her, according to the police.

When the girl appeared at the police box, 750 meters from the man's house, she was not wearing shoes. She told a police officer that she had "fled from a man's house" after "becoming scared" and there was another girl there.

Osaka prefectural police transferred Ito to its headquarters on Sunday afternoon.

He is suspected of abducting the girl from the park in Osaka on Nov 17 and confining her in his home despite knowing she was a minor.

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