KOBE - The Kobe District Court handed down a guilty verdict on Wednesday with a suspended sentence to a Vietnamese woman who was charged with abandoning the body of a baby in a toilet bowl.
The defendant, a Vietnamese technical intern trainee, was accused of the crime of discarding the body of a baby she gave birth to in May of this year in the toilet of a dormitory at a company in Tanba-Sasayama City, Hyogo Prefecture, and flushing it down the sewer.
During previous court proceedings, the woman had stated, "I was afraid of being sent back to Vietnam if I was found to be pregnant." The defense argued that she felt she had no one to turn to and believed she had to resolve the situation on her own, seeking a verdict with a suspended sentence.
The Kobe District Court pointed out that the defendant's actions, including flushing the stillborn baby down the toilet, lacked any sense of dignity. However, the court also acknowledged that she "recognizes the facts and reflects on them." As a result, the Vietnamese woman received a sentence of 1 year and 6 months of imprisonment suspended for 4 years.
Source: YOMIURI
