Overview
- The Nagoya District Court’s Ichinomiya branch approved prosecutors’ request to amend the indictment to explicitly identify the newborn daughter as a victim of injury in the case.
- Prosecutors presented medical records and physician statements showing the child suffered brain damage from interrupted oxygen supply, leaving her unable to breathe unaided and needing round‑the‑clock care.
- The defendant, Naoko Chigono, accepted the amended indictment in court and said she regarded the child as a victim.
- Prosecutors did not file a separate negligent‑injury charge for prenatal harm, citing the interpretation that a fetus is part of the mother’s body until birth.
- The victim’s husband, Yuta, who submitted more than 110,000 signatures seeking an injury charge on behalf of his daughter, voiced disappointment after the hearing.