There is simply no excuse for abandoning your children alone at home while you go partying. No excuse at all.

Partying mom gets 6-year sentence
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

2008/9/4

SAITAMA–A mother who abandoned her children so she could party with her boyfriend was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison for neglect resulting in the death of one of her 2-year-old twins.

She left the twins in the care of their 6-year-old brother.

Megumi Shimamura, 30, of Misato, Saitama Prefecture, had even blamed her son for the death of his younger brother during her 11-day absence, according to the ruling at the Saitama District Court.

Presiding Judge Yujiro Nakatani told Shimamura, “Such a heartless and inhumane crime makes one doubt (your) self-awareness, affection and humanity as a parent.”

Prosecutors had sought an eight-year sentence for negligence as a guardian.

According to the ruling, Shimamura, who is unemployed, left her house on March 3 because she wanted a break from child-rearing and to hang out with her boyfriend.

She reportedly told her 6-year-old son, “I will not return so take care of things.”

She also ordered him not to allow her grandmother, who was living in the same three-story house, to enter the quarters where the three children were living.

The son called the mother’s cellphone several dozen times a day but was largely ignored.

Shimamura’s grandmother tried to enter the rooms after hearing the children crying. But the eldest boy stopped her, saying, “Mom will scold me.”

Shimamura left hamburgers, bread, cookies and other food at the entrance of the house once or twice a day. But the food was not enough for the three children, the ruling said.

The twins’ diapers were never changed and the rooms soon became covered in filth.

On the evening of March 12, the 6-year-old called Shimamura to say that his younger brother would not wake up.

Shimamura returned to the house but did not have the courage to enter the rooms. So she went to a pub and got drunk, according the ruling.

The next day, the son called her again, saying, “He still won’t wake up.”

Before dawn on March 14, Shimamura returned home and found the 2-year-old boy dead with his mouth half-open in a playpen covered in garbage and feces.

She slapped the eldest boy’s face and said: “You are disqualified as my child. Though mama’s to blame, you’re to blame, too. You shouldn’t have eaten all the food by yourself.”

The 2-year-old boy had starved to death on March 12, according to the ruling. His twin sister was found seriously dehydrated.

Shimamura’s defense team said she could not get her family members to help out with the children, which created a situation that made her abandon her child-rearing duties.

The 6-year-old had told prosecutors: “Mom told me I was fired because I didn’t take care of the twins. It’s all my fault.”(IHT/Asahi: September 4,2008)