Japanese mother ignored her 19-month-old ill son until he died while chatting on net

A 29-year-old mother in Japan spent most of her time in Internet chat rooms instead of taking care of her 1-year-old son who was sick that time.

Yumiko Takahashi knew that her son was having a high fever when she checked on him on the afternoon of June 24 last year, still she continued her habit leaving her son lying on his bed untended.

A post mortem examination revealed Neo had died around 2 pm on June 26th, police said. His mother found his lifeless body the following morning, newspaper reports said.

Takahashi was arrested Thursday on suspicion of child neglect and causing death, a spokesman for police in Otsu, western Japan said Friday.

An employee at the nursery school said the child attended noticed the boy had fever when picking him up Sunday. When checking on child's condition later, the employee said, Takahashi reported the fever had fallen.

Takahashi 6-year-old son was place in foster care after his brother's death. Her computer showed that Takahashi spent hours in chat rooms daily.

Takahashi history of neglect is legendary in her neighborhood. Neighbors often saw the two boys roaming in soiled diapers and were always hungry. One of the possible reasons’s for Neo’s death is that Takahashi never changed his diapers frequently and so he was constantly wet. This complicated his fever condition and pneumonia. Takahashi spent most of her time in chat rooms rather than tending to her ailing son. Her sole surviving son has been sent to foster care, and I suppose the scars will take time to heal. If it’s any solace, Takahashi has admitted to the charges levied at the time of arrest.