British father in Japan "was not responsible for baby's death"

A British man charged with shaking to death his infant son told a Japanese court yesterday that he never intended to hurt the child and that he was suffering at the time from trauma caused by physical abuse in his childhood.

Anthony Buckley, 21, faces up to 20 years in jail for the alleged killing of his 12-day old son, Yoshimitsu, in his Tokyo home in June last year. According to prosecutors, he pinched the baby’s legs, hit him, violently shook him, and struck his head twice against a table in a fit of frustration with his crying.

Yoshimitsu suffered a broken rib and died the following day from bleeding in the brain. At first Mr Buckley claimed that he had accidentally dropped the child in the bath while bathing him, but under police questioning he admitted shaking him.

“The defendant was exhausted by stress and insomnia,” the prosecution told the panel of three judges at the Tokyo District Court. “He was isolated and unmotivated . . . [But] he was capable of taking responsibility for his actions.”