TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Japanese woman was arrested for allegedly locking her naked partner on their balcony for the night, leading to his death from cold, police said Friday.

The 54-year-old was arrested on charges of assault and lethal confinement, police in southern Japan’s Nagasaki region told Agence France-Presse.

In February 2022, the woman “ordered the victim to get out on a balcony while he was naked, and confined him there,” local official Masafumi Tanigawa said.

The next day police rushed to the scene after an emergency call, and the 49-year-old was found “nearly dead” in a room, Tanigawa said, adding he later died of hypothermia.

The temperature that night dropped to a low of 3.7 Celsius, the Mainichi daily reported.

The woman had earlier attacked her partner, who was her common-law husband, with a knife, leaving him with nose injuries that took two weeks to heal.

The woman is denying the charges, telling police that “I’ve done nothing”, Tanigawa quoted her as saying.

Police did not say why it had taken so long to formally charge her.