By KEISHI IIJIMA/ Staff Writer
June 25, 2021 at 15:43 JST
Flowers are offered on June 24 at a scene where two people were killed by Yoshitaka Morito in Miharu, Fukushima Prefecture, in May 2020. (Motoyuki Tanaka)
KORIYAMA, Fukushima Prefecture--The Fukushima District Court’s Koriyama Branch on June 24 sentenced a man to death for intentionally killing two people with a vehicle.
According to the ruling, Yoshitaka Morito, 51, an unemployed man with no fixed address, drove a truck without a license in Miharu, Fukushima Prefecture, on May 31, 2020.
He stole the truck from a company he worked for at the time.
Morito drove down a national road and intentionally hit two people who were doing volunteer work to clean up the road. He then fled from the scene.
Shigeru Hashimoto, 55, and Miho Sanpei, 52, died in the incident.
Morito was released from jail just two days before he committed the crime.
He said he felt insecure about life outside of jail and was determined to commit a crime “to go back to prison” so he could be fed, clothed and housed.
“Killing two people randomly is an egregious disregard for human life,” Presiding Judge Kenta Onodera said in handing down the death penalty on the prosecution’s recommendation.
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