Prosecutors Amend Indictment in Fatal Crash Involving Pregnant Woman, Stops Short of Injury Charge for Fetus

By Barrier Free Japan

January 29 2026

ICHINOMIYA, Aichi Pref – Prosecutors on January 26th amended an indictment in a fatal traffic accident case involving a pregnant woman to include harm caused to the fetus, while stopping short of applying a separate injury charge, as a bereaved family pressed for the unborn child to be recognized as a victim.

The case stems from a May 2025 accident in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, in which a woman who was nine months pregnant was struck from behind by a car while walking along a roadside in a residential area and later died.

At the second hearing held at the Ichinomiya branch of the Nagoya District Court, prosecutors added wording to the indictment stating that the defendant caused “injuries such as circulatory failure resulting in fetal dysfunction to the fetus in the womb,” and argued that the damage suffered by the child should be taken into account in sentencing.

However, prosecutors did not pursue the application of the charge of negligent driving resulting in injury with respect to the child.

The victim, Sayaka Togitani, was 31 years old and nine months pregnant at the time of the accident. After being rushed to the hospital, an emergency Caesarean section was performed and the baby was delivered, but Sayaka died two days later without holding her child.

The baby, a girl named Hinami, suffered severe disabilities due to oxygen deprivation to the brain caused by the accident and remains unconscious even after being discharged from the hospital.

The defendant, Naoko Chigono, a 50-year-old unemployed woman living nearby, admitted to the charges at the first hearing in September last year and also acknowledged the amended indictment.

Hinami was not initially specified in the indictment because under Japanese criminal law, a fetus is generally regarded as “part of the mother’s body.”

Yudai Togitani, 33, the husband of the deceased, has called on prosecutors to recognize the fetus as a victim and to amend the charges to include negligent driving resulting in injury to his daughter. In September last year, he submitted an online petition with more than 110,000 signatures to the Nagoya District Public Prosecutors Office.

“The grief of losing my wife and the anger over having my daughter’s future taken away have not changed at all since the accident happened,” Togitani said in court.

“When I saw the indictment, her name wasn’t included at all. The reality that my daughter Hinami, who was born with severe disabilities, is not treated as a victim is something I simply cannot accept,” he said.

Prosecutors had previously indicated they would conduct additional investigations into the extent of the damage suffered by the child.

The case has drawn attention to how Japan’s criminal justice system treats fetuses in traffic accidents and whether harm to an unborn child should be recognized independently in criminal proceedings.