Prosecutors asked the Morioka District Court on Thursday to sentence a 36-year-old employee of a prefectural fisheries high school to two years and six months in prison for killing 55 hamsters at hotels in Iwate Prefecture, a charge brought under the Animal Welfare Act. They also sought a ¥290,000 surcharge. The defense asked for a suspended sentence, and the trial closed the same day. The court will rule on December 21.
The defendant, Motoki Kimura, works at Miyako Fisheries High School. In its closing argument, the prosecution said he had for more than 10 years had a woman step on small animals such as rats and hamsters, and called the abuse "nothing short of gruesome."
Prosecutors said he filmed the abuse as "crush videos" and sold them, earning about ¥10 million. They described the offenses as habitual.
In a final statement to the court, Kimura said he reflected on the lives he had taken and apologized.
What the case turns on
The Animal Welfare Act — the law governing the treatment of animals in Japan — sets penalties for killing or injuring animals without cause. Prosecutors in this case tied the cruelty to a commercial operation, arguing that the killings were repeated and produced income rather than being isolated acts.
The court must now decide whether Kimura's sentence is served in prison or suspended, and how the ¥10 million in earnings figures into the penalty. Prosecutors have asked for the ¥290,000 surcharge on top of the prison term.