Overview
- Tokyo District Court imposed one year and six months, suspended for three years, on former director Etsuo Nozaki, and ten months, suspended for three years, on former staff member Shunsuke.
- Judge Osamu Imai said caregivers neglected elementary precautions for infant care and found the director’s responsibility heavier for failing to ensure proper instruction and oversight.
- The four-month-old boy, Masaki, died of asphyxiation on December 13, 2023 after being placed face down at the unlicensed Setagaya facility “Takuj Room Bambino,” which has since closed.
- Prosecutors said the director failed to enforce back-sleeping guidance and the staff member left the infant prone without checking his condition, and the court accepted that combined negligence caused the death.
- The parents, both physicians who had been unable to secure a licensed nursery spot, condemned the suspended sentences as too light and urged stronger safeguards to prevent similar cases.