Court upholds sentence of killer mom

TOKYO, March 25 (UPI) -- A court in Japan has upheld the life sentence given to a woman convicted of allowing her 9-year-old daughter to fall into a river and strangling another child.

Suzuka Hatakeyama, 36, was found guilty of killing her daughter, Ayaka, in April 2006 and strangling Goken Yoneyama, 7, a month later, Japan's Kyodo news service reported Wednesday.

Presiding Judge Toshinori Takehana said the defendant shoved Ayaka into the river after placing the child on a "dangerous railing" and failing to take action when she fell.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty in the case but the Akita District Court that sentenced Hatakeyama said that neither murder was premeditated and it felt the defendant could be rehabilitated.