The Kyoto Prefectural Police headquarters (Mainichi/Takanori Ishikawa)

       KYOTO -- A woman in Kyoto Prefecture was arrested Nov. 22 on suspicion of murder after she allegedly drowned her 3-year-old son in a bathtub in 2017.

       Kyoto Prefectural Police arrested Kayo Kukiyama, 37. She is specifically accused of drowning her eldest son Nagatoki in a bathtub filled with hot water at a housing complex in the Kyoto Prefecture city of Kizugawa, where they lived at the time, between around 6 pm. and 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 24, 2017. She has reportedly admitted to the allegations.

       According to the prefectural police, Kukiyama made an emergency call saying that her son had drowned. She was giving cardiac massage to Nagatoki who was lying on the washing area of the bathroom clothed when a rescue team arrived. She apparently explained, "I found him floating in the bathtub when I went to check if the hot water had filled up, so I took him out of the tub and made an emergency call."

       Nagatoki's death was confirmed at the hospital he was transported to. The prefectural police had been investigating his death over whether it was caused by an accident or intentionally. There had apparently been no abuse reports from a day care center Nagatoki attended, and the prefectural police had received no reports from a local child consultation center as of 2017.

       A woman in her 70s who resides in the housing complex where Kukiyama lived at the time commented, "I believed it was an accident, but I feel very sorry for him if he was killed."

       (Japanese original by Takumi Fujikawa and Reiko Nakajima, Kyoto Bureau)

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