The main entrance of Roppongi Hills Mori Tower during modification work

Presiding Judge Hironobu Murakami said that incident was foreseeable for the defendants -- Yuzo Tada, 62, a former managing director of Mori Building, and Yukihiro Koyama, 48, a former Mori Building official in charge of operations at Roppongi Hills.

Hisanobu Kubo, 62, a former director of Sanwa Tajima Corp., the manufacturer and distributor of the door, received a sentence of 14 months in prison, suspended for three years. The three men, for whom prosecutors had sought prison terms, had pleaded guilty in June to professional negligence resulting in death.

The judge said the defendants could have foreseen that such an accident would happen because a number of similar accidents had taken place at automatic revolving doors made by Sanwa Tajima. At Roppongi Hills, which opened in April 2003, a 6-year-old girl had been seriously injured four months before the fatal accident.

The boy's father, Koichi Mizokawa, 41, said he feels "frustrated and sad" as the prison sentences were suspended despite the loss of his son's life.

Commenting on the ruling, Mori Building released a statement apologizing to the boy's relatives and vowing to promote safety measures at its facilities so that this type of accident does not happen again.

The Japan Times Weekly: Oct. 8, 2005
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