Man Fine For Putting 2-Month-Old Son In Freezer To Take Bizarre Photos

A man has been fined for putting his 2-month-old son in the freezer compartment of a refrigerator in a hotel guest room in Fukuoka, Japan for a bizarre photo. The incident reportedly happened inside a hotel room in Fukuoka City, Japan between April 15 and 16, 2021.

Tatsuji Nishioka, 43, reportedly put his newborn son inside a freezer to take bizarre pictures of the baby in a hotel guest room in the southwestern city of Fukuoka in April 2021. After the strange photos surfaced, Nishioka was convicted of assault and was ordered to pay a fine amount of US$2,251 (300,000 Japanese yen) by the Osaka District Court on Monday, July 25, 2022, Japan Today reported.

“My son is so cute that I just wanted to play a trick on him and had no intention of abusing him,” Nishioka reportedly told the authorities of his motivations.

The incident came to light after a doctor diagnosed the infant with a fractured left thigh and rib in August 2021. Following the discovery, the doctor contacted a child welfare consultation center regarding the father's possible abuse. The child protection agency subsequently reported the incident to the police.

Following this, the authorities searched Nishioka’s home and discovered photos and video footage of the father locking his infant son inside a freezer. They also found a video of the infant left lying face down on a table at home, Latin Times reported.

Nishioka insisted to the court that his actions should not be viewed as a crime and defended himself, claiming that he kept his son in the freezer "only for a short duration to take pictures."

However, Judge Yuko Okubo, of the Osaka District Court, dismissed Nishioka's defense of his actions as "unreasonable," saying that children of such a young age are not capable of regulating body temperature and that his son could have suffered frostbite and hypothermia. The freezer in which Nishioka kept his son operated at minus 18° Celsius. Moreover, the child was wrapped only in a baby blanket at the time of the incident.

Following the incident, the boy was temporarily placed in the custody of a child welfare center in September last year and Nishioka was ordered to pay a fine amount of US$2,251 (300,000 Japanese yen) by the Osaka District Court.