20.12.2011

Crane operator gets 7 years

The Utsunomiya district court in Japan has given the crane operator who crashed into a group of schoolchildren in April this year a seven year prison sentence.

The man, Masato Shibata, 26, suffers from epilepsy, something he had hidden when applying and qualifying for the crane operator’s job and licence.
The judge, Masanobu Sato told Shibata that he should have refrained from driving regardless of any circumstances and that his lack of due diligence caused the deaths of six children.

Seven years is the highest penalty allowed for negligent homicide while driving. Click here to go to the original accident report

Shibata's lawyers had sought leniency, saying he had an obsession with mobile cranes stemming from an inferiority complex and a sense of alienation brought on by his epilepsy, however they do not plan to appeal the sentence.

The court was told that on the morning of accident, Shibata, ignored indications of an oncoming epileptic seizure, he then lost consciousness as he was driving city type rough terrain crane and ploughed into the group of schoolchildren in Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture, near Tokyo, killing six of them. He had apparently also caused 12 less serious accidents in the past due to his epilepsy.
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The scene after the accident

Some of the deceased children’s parents denounced police for failing to take appropriate action after Shibata caused an accident involving a serious injury in April 2008. In that case the police ignored the possibility that his epilepsy played a part in the accident, without confirming it with a hospital, even though the fire department had reported it.

No mention has been made of the company that owned the crane and employed Shibata.