IT IS NOT SO SIMPLE
Transport Minister Nariaki Nakayama, who resigned on September 27 because of his inappropriate remarks, commented during his resignation interview that it was deplorable that a child kills his/her parent and that a parent kills his/her child in Japan. He did not touch on why such a sad murder took place. Let’s probe the reason behind a child-killing.
On September 23, a 35-year-old mother, Kaoru Tomiichi, told the police that she strangled her 5-year-old son, Koki, at a public restroom. First she proclaimed her innocence, but later she confessed the crime. Why did she kill her son? She said, “When I asked Koki to assist me in the restroom, he refused saying, ‘Why do I have to do such a thing?’ I lost my temper and killed him.”
But, is this so simple? In fact, she had been suffering from a chronic disease that affected her legs caused by a traffic accident. Moreover, Koki-kun, was enrolled in a class for children with special needs becaue he tended to be restless and had concentration problems. She said, “I was pessimistic about Koki’s future.”
I can't help feeling sympathy with her. How deeply she had been worrying about Koki-kun’s future after her death? Who will take care of my child? I can’t die leaving my son in this harsh world. Every day, every hour, and every minute of the day, she had been fighting with her fate. She had been under extreme mental stress. She killed her son not because she hated him but because she loved him.
Can anyone blame her? What would you do if you were in her place? It is easy to comment that child-killing is deplorable, but it is not such a simple matter.
そう単純ではない
失言で９月２７日に辞任した中山成彬国土交通大臣は、辞任インタビューで子殺し、親殺しがある日本は、これでいいのかとコメントした。中山氏はこのような悲しい殺人の原因ついては触れなかった。子殺しの背景を探ってみよう。
９月２３日、富石薫（３５歳）は息子の弘輝くん（５歳）を公衆便所で殺害したと自白。始めは無実を主張していたが罪を認めた。なぜ殺したのか。富石は、「トイレで、弘輝に私を介助するように頼んだら、「なぜそんなことをしなければならないのか」と断られ、カッとなって殺した」と言った。
しかし、事はそんなに単純ではない。実は、富石は交通事故のため足に慢性障害があった。また、弘輝くんは、情緒不安定で特別支援学級に入っていた。「弘輝の将来のことを思うと不安で」と富石は言う。
私は富石に同情を禁じ得ない。富石は、自分が死んだ後の息子のことをどれほど心配していたことだろう。誰が面倒を見てくれるのか。厳しい世の中にとても弘輝を残しては死にきれない。毎日、毎時間、毎分、富石は自分の運命と闘い、極度のストレスに陥っていたのだ。弘輝が憎いから殺したのではない。いとおしかったから殺したのだ。
彼女を責めることができようか。彼女の立場だったらどうするだろう。子殺しは嘆かわしいとコメントするのは簡単だが、奥が深いのだ。
