A 30-year-old man accused of driving into a line of schoolchildren in Osaka's Nishinari Ward, injuring seven, refused to enter a plea on the opening day of his lay-judge trial at the Osaka District Court on the 9th, telling the court that saying nothing was better.
Yuki Yazawa is charged with attempted murder over the May 2025 crash. Presiding Judge Akihiro Motomura opened the trial before citizen judges, known as saiban-in, who weigh verdicts and sentences alongside professional judges.
"Thinking about how my words would have a negative effect on the children's minds, it is better that I say nothing," Yazawa told the court. "I do not seek a reduction in my sentence."
His defense team said it would not present arguments or evidence aimed at blocking the establishment of the crime.
Prosecutors describe a plan formed in two weeks
In its opening statement, the prosecution said Yazawa fell out with his family after a family trip in 2023 and attempted suicide twice afterward. He came to want the death penalty as a sure way to die, according to the prosecution, and planned an indiscriminate killing about two weeks before the crash.
He was working as a radiologic technologist at the time and quit his job shortly before the incident, the prosecution said.
Two days before the crash, the prosecution said, he traveled from Tokyo, where he lived, to Osaka. He drove around several elementary and junior high schools and the area near a theme park in the city.
After choosing the spot, he accelerated to as much as 19 kph and drove into the line of children walking in a narrow alley, according to the prosecution. He then drove his tires over a child who had fallen.
Defense points to isolation and autism spectrum disorder
The defense said Yazawa had struggled with personal relationships since childhood and found life hard. It argued he had convinced himself that his autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, which makes communication with others difficult, would never improve, and despaired.
"He thought there was no choice but to die," the defense said.
According to the indictment, Yazawa drove into eight second- and third-graders from the municipal Senbon Elementary School from behind on a street in Senbon-naka 2-chome in Nishinari Ward just after 1:30 p.m. on May 1, 2025, as they walked home from school, intending to kill them.
Two of the children suffered serious injuries including broken bones, and five were slightly injured.