Uncle Used “Baby Post” to Abandon Child & Steal Inheritance Money
Remember the “baby post” that opened at hospital in Kumamoto prefecture back in 2007? It was meant for people to anonymously drop off newborn babies they do not want to raise, but now it’s been linked to a very serious crime.
The Yomiuri is reporting that a man used it to abandon his orphaned nephew and steal the boy’s inheritance money:
…in spring 2007, the man withdrew the mother’s life and accident insurance payments that had been deposited into several bank accounts opened in the boy’s name. He then left the boy at the Kumamoto hatch and went missing.
Unable to contact the man, the court dismissed him as guardian of the boy. A lawyer who took over the guardianship then consulted with the Saitama prefectural police as to the man’s whereabouts.
In early May, the boy’s uncle turned himself in at a police station in Aichi Prefecture, lugging a large amount of baggage.
The Saitama police then questioned the man, who reportedly said: “I found out about the baby hatch and left the boy there. Since then, I wandered around and gambled the insurance money on motorboat races and other things hoping to earn more money.
“I started feeling guilty about what I’d done after seeing people [in the Tohoku region] suffering from the Great East Japan Earthquake,” he reportedly told the police.
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
