A Japanese mother has admitted killing her two children, but her trial is focused on whether her mental state left her criminally responsible. Prosecutors told Mito District Court that workplace grievances and worsening distress contributed to her belief that her children could not live without her and that they could be together in heaven if they died.
Akiko Ota, 42, admitted the charges at her first hearing on Wednesday, 14 October 2026. She is accused of fatally stabbing her son, Tsuguma, eight, and daughter, Riko, five, at the family's apartment in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, in July 2023. The indictment alleges that she stabbed each child in the neck with a kitchen knife.
