75-Year-Old Tottori Man Sentenced to Three Years and Two Months For Multiple Hit-and-Run Incidents, Leaving 9-Year-Old Disabled

Extract from BSS Sanin Broadcasting via Yahoo! Japan

January 25 2026

Tottori – On January 14, 2026, the Tottori District Court handed down a sentence of 3 years and 2 months’ imprisonment to an unemployed man (75) from Hōki Town, Tottori Prefecture, who had been charged with multiple offences including negligent driving resulting in injury and hit-and-run. The court harshly criticized the defendant for repeatedly committing traffic violations within a short period even after causing a serious personal injury accident, stating that this conduct “clearly demonstrates a lack of willingness to comply with traffic laws to ensure road safety, as well as a lack of awareness of the responsibility that accompanies driving a motor vehicle, and is deserving of strong condemnation.” 

The sentencing hearing was held on January 14.

Judge Jirō Anzai of the Tottori District Court declared in the main text of the ruling, “The defendant is sentenced to 3 years and 2 months’ imprisonment.”

In explaining the reasons for the sentence, the court first referred to the incident on March 31, 2025, in which the defendant caused serious injury to a 9-year-old child through negligent driving.

The accident occurred at a pedestrian crosswalk in a residential area. Although the defendant was aware of the crosswalk’s existence, he “assumed that there were no pedestrians crossing, failed to pay attention to whether anyone was present, continued driving at approximately 40 kilometers per hour without slowing down, and only became aware of the victim’s presence after the collision.” The court determined that this negligence was serious.

The 9-year-old child who was injured suffered “diffuse axonal injury, traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage, acute subdural hematoma, swallowing dysfunction, and quadriplegia, among other injuries, and at one point was in a life-threatening condition.” Even now, “the function of both the upper and lower limbs remains severely restricted, nutrition is almost entirely provided through tube feeding, the child can barely speak, and requires assistance for most daily activities.” The prospect of future recovery remains uncertain.

The court stated that “the impact on the victim’s long life ahead is enormous, and the emotional suffering and disruption to the family’s life are also significant.” It further criticized the defendant for not being enrolled in voluntary insurance, for having provided no compensation whatsoever, and for failing to respond with sincerity.

In addition, on April 3 of the same year, the very day he was arrested and released in connection with the first accident, the defendant drove another unregistered and uninsured vehicle, collided with a bicycle, injured a 15-year-old boy, and fled the scene without rendering aid. The court concluded that “there is nothing in the motive for this crime that warrants consideration.”

The court also found his habitual conduct particularly malicious, noting that despite having his driver’s license revoked, he repeatedly drove without a license on three occasions between May 7 and May 11.

Regarding this series of offences, the court pointed out that “despite having experienced two personal injury accidents, including one resulting in grave consequences due to his own serious negligence, and having been taken into custody as a result, thereby being given opportunities to reflect on traffic safety, traffic laws, and his criminal responsibility, the defendant nonetheless committed further traffic offences within a short period of time.” The court concluded that this conduct “can be said to have demonstrated through his own actions that the defendant cannot be rehabilitated within society.”