OSAKA, Japan, March 5 (UPI) -- A 36-year-old woman and her 38-year-old friend in Osaka, Japan, are accused of starving the woman's 12-year-old son to death.
Osaka officials said Friday the victim, Yuki Osako, had been confined and given only one meal a day for over four months, which caused his death due to malnutrition, the Mainichi Daily News reported.
Chie Osako and her friend, Michiko Kawaguchi, were charged with confinement resulting in death and failure to protect the child, officials said.
The report said the boy was given mostly rice porridge once a day. At the time of death, he weighed only about 9 pounds (19 kilograms), police said.
"We gave him one meal a day, because I thought he would vomit if we fed him twice," Kawaguchi told police.
Kawaguchi, who lives near Osako's apartment, took care of the boy when the mother went out.
"Because I was busy with my job, I asked Kawaguchi to look after my son," Osako was quoted as saying. "I was wrong."
