The incident occurred on September 5, 2022 at the “Kawasaki Kindergarten” in the Makinohara District of Shizuoka, Japan. The school principal, the responsible teacher, and the shuttle driver parked the minibus in the school garage without checking that all students had gotten off, costing the life of a kindergarten student. Kawamoto, a kindergarten student who spent about 5 hours in the locked minibus, was found at 14:05. However, the child, who was found unconscious in the shuttle with his shirt off and an empty water bottle in his hand, was not saved.
The Shizuoka District Court determined that 3-year-old Kawamoto Çina died of heatstroke after being forgotten on the kindergarten bus in 2022, and the final hearing of the case filed regarding the issue was held 2 years later. The indictment requested a 2.5-year prison sentence for former school principal Masuda Tatsuyoshi, who was driving the school bus on the day of the incident and failed to check whether all the students had gotten off, causing the death of one person by committing “professional negligence.”
After the former school principal admitted the crime of “professional negligence”, the final verdict of the hearing was that the former school principal, 74-year-old Masuda, was sentenced to 16 months in prison, and the teacher responsible, 48-year-old Nishihara, was sentenced to 1 year in prison.
‘HIS FUTURE WAS STOLEN WHEN HE WAS JUST 3 YEARS AND 11 MONTHS OLD’
Judge Kunii Koshi, regarding the death of kindergarten student Kawamoto, said, “His future was stolen when he was only 3 years and 11 months old, his pain is unimaginable.” Kunii stated that Masuda, who was the kindergarten principal at the time of the incident, failed to create a safety guide to prevent student deaths. Judge Kunii stated that the school had a negligent safety management system that put children’s lives at risk, and that the driver’s negligence directly caused the victim’s death.