Photo/Illutration Carrying a photo of his late wife and daughter, Takuya Matsunaga and his father-in-law, right, head to the Tokyo District Court to hear the ruling on the driver of the car who killed them on Sept. 2. (Tatsuya Shimada)

A 90-year-old former government bureaucrat was found guilty on Sept. 2 of killing two people and injuring nine others in a 2019 traffic accident in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district and sentenced to five years in prison. 

Prosecutors sought a maximum seven-year prison term for Kozo Iizuka, a former senior official at the industry ministry, who was charged with negligent driving resulting in death and injury. 

In the ruling, the Tokyo District Court said Iizuka was responsible for the accident on April 19, 2019.

"The accused was at fault in mistakenly pressing the accelerator, instead of the brakes," the court said. "He continued to press it to the maximum extent possible."

Iizuka, who was in a wheelchair, lowered his gaze most of the time while Presiding Judge Kenji Shimotsu read the ruling.

Iizuka nodded gently when the judge concluded that his negligence was clear.

The judge continued to say, "If you accept the ruling, admit your error and apologize to the bereaved family and other victims, which is what they want you to do first."

The judge quickly added that Iizuka can appeal the ruling if he finds it unacceptable.

Iizuka said nothing and left the courtroom after bowing.

He continued to assert during court hearings that he had “no memory of continuing to press the gas pedal” and blamed “some sort of abnormality” in his car’s control system.

According to the indictment, Iizuka’s vehicle, a Toyota Motor Corp. Prius hybrid, ran a red light around 12:25 p.m. and sped through two intersections in the Ikebukuro district of Toshima Ward.

Prosecutors said Iizuka mistakenly pressed the accelerator when he was changing lanes. The car sped up to 84 kph when it entered the first crossing and was traveling at about 96 kph when it hit and killed Mana Matsunaga, 31, and her 3-year-old daughter Riko.

The two were on a bicycle passing through a pedestrian crossing.

Prosecutors said an analysis of the car’s electronic monitoring system did not show any abnormality. Toyota made the same argument in the trial and at a news conference.

The case attracted heightened public attention particularly as Takuya Matsunaga, the grieving husband of Mana and father of Riko, held a news conference to express his grief and desire for a harsh punishment for the driver.

Although only 22 tickets were made available for the public to hear the court ruling, 563 people lined up on Sept. 2 hoping to get a ticket to enter the courtroom.

Prosecutors indicted Iizuka in February 2020 without arrest. In his trial, which opened in October, the accused maintained his innocence, contending that his car accelerated due to some abnormality.

After the deaths of his family members, Matsunaga joined an organization made up of bereaved families of traffic accidents and called on the government to institute a system allowing them to take a special leave to attend the trials of the accused. 

In his blog in August, Matsunaga urged Iizuka to accept the Sept. 2 district court ruling.

“Why don’t we stop this unproductive fight after the verdict?” he said. “I hope that you will not let me spend my life continuing to hold a grudge against you in the years to come. Let me be the person that my wife and daughter loved.”

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Takuya Matsunaga, his wife, Mana, and their daughter, Riko, in a photo shot about six months before the fatal accident (Provided by the bereaved family)

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