Teenage Girl Dies After Falling Ill; Family Sues Hyogo Prefecture and State, Alleging Illegal Police and Prosecutorial Investigation Was the Cause

From The Kobe Shimbun

June 17 2026

TOKYO – The mother of a teenage girl who died after becoming ill in December last year has filed a lawsuit against Hyogo Prefecture and the national government, seeking approximately ¥110 million in damages. The suit, filed with the Kobe District Court on the 17th, alleges that the girl’s death resulted from an unlawful investigation conducted by the prefectural police and the Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office.

The girl, who was 16 at the time and worked at a disability welfare facility in Hyogo Prefecture, had been arrested on suspicion of assault after restraining a service user who became violent. She was detained for 18 days. Although prosecutors ultimately decided not to indict her, she continued to suffer from eating disorders and other physical and psychological health problems, and died five months after her release.

According to the complaint, in February last year, during an event at her workplace, the girl placed her hand under the jaw of a female service user with a severe intellectual disability to stop her from attempting to bite another person. A participant who witnessed the incident later reported it to a local government authority in April, suggesting it may have been abuse. After being contacted by officials, the woman’s family filed a report with Akashi Police Station, and the girl was arrested on June 17.

The girl denied the allegations but was placed in detention. Visits were prohibited, and the shock reportedly left her unable to eat, causing her weight to plummet. She remained in custody from the day after her arrest until July 3, when she vomited twice in a police detention cell and was taken to hospital by ambulance. After being returned to the detention facility, she was released the following day, July 4.

She was later diagnosed with acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Her inability to eat persisted, and she died on December 14. The cause of death was determined to be malnutrition.

According to the family, in March this year the witness who had reported the incident as abuse apologized to the girl’s mother, reportedly saying that they had “exaggerated what happened.”

Following the filing of the lawsuit, the mother and her attorneys held a press conference. One of the lawyers argued that the arrest had been unjustified, emphasizing that the girl’s residence and workplace were known and that there had been no risk of flight or destruction of evidence. The legal team questioned the necessity of both the arrest and the detention, criticizing what they described as coercive interrogation practices by Akashi Police Station aimed at obtaining a confession, inadequate health management in custody, and the prosecutors’ request for a prohibition on visits.

The lawyers also argued that, of the 35 people present at the event, investigators failed to interview anyone other than the witness who reported the incident to local authorities. They described the investigation as “sloppy.”

Kenji Ogami, head of the Hyogo Prefectural Police Inspector General’s Office, said, “We cannot comment because the complaint has not yet been served.”

Naoshi Fukuda, deputy chief prosecutor of the Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office, stated, “This concerns the specific details of an investigation in an individual case, and as the complaint has not yet been served, we will refrain from commenting at this time.”