Why Was Testimony Ignored?”…20 Years After Kochi Motorcycle Accident, “Regrets of Jail Sentenced Driver” and Alleged “Photographic Evidence”

On March 3, a man was seen holding a white flower at the intersection of Route 56 in Haruno-cho, Agawa-gun, Kochi Prefecture. 72-year-old Haruhiko Kataoka, a former school bus driver, was sentenced to prison for the so-called “Kochi motorcycle accident” that occurred here 20 years ago on this day.

Immediately after the accident, Kataoka had consistently stated that the bus had stopped, and had disputed the police and prosecutors’ investigation. However, he has never forgotten the grief he felt for the motorcycle policeman (26 at the time) who died in the accident, leaving behind his wife and young child. His grief is reflected in his comment in an interview with the author the year after the accident, “I am not making this claim to shift the blame on the deceased police officer” (Friday, November 23, 2007 issue).

Mr. Kataoka speaks again this time.

Twenty years have passed, the restaurant where the students had lunch just before the accident has closed down, and the atmosphere at the site has changed considerably. But when I stand at the intersection where the accident occurred, I remember that day. And I still can’t believe it. How could such a tragic event have happened? ……”

The accident occurred at 2:34 p.m. on March 3, 2006. A school bus (owned by Niyodogawa Town, Kochi) carrying junior high school students who had finished lunch was making a right turn toward Tosa City at a flashing yellow light intersection from a restaurant parking lot on the national highway when a motorcycle of the Kochi Prefectural Police Traffic Task Force traveling from the right struck the front right corner. The driver of the vehicle was killed shortly after. The bus was carrying 22 third-year students and three teachers from Niyodo Junior High School, who were on a graduation excursion.

The bus was stopped.”

Mr. Kataoka was arrested on suspicion of professional negligence. In December of the same year, prosecutors charged Mr. Kataoka with manslaughter on the grounds that the bus had failed to check for safety and was proceeding at a low speed toward the median strip of the national highway at the time of the collision.

On the other hand, Mr. Kataoka’s defense team argued that “the principal, who was right behind the bus, as well as several students and teachers on board, testified that the bus was stopped, and that the motorcycle collided with the bus at high speed while it was stopped in the center of the road to make a right turn,” and their arguments were in direct conflict.

Furthermore, in this case, attention was drawn to a photograph that was suddenly shown to Mr. Kataoka by the investigators six months after the accident (see related image).

The prosecution claimed this was “evidence of emergency braking,” but Mr. Kataoka did not see any brake marks at the time of the on-the-spot investigation. He only learned of their existence when the prosecution showed him the photographs. The defense countered that this was a fabrication by the police. However, their argument was not accepted, and Mr. Kataoka was sentenced to one year and four months in prison.

Kataoka-san later asked for a retrial, but the Supreme Court ruled against it, and the case is still ongoing.

As a local school bus driver, Mr. Kataoka was well-loved by his students, and for many years he supported his family’s livelihood with this job. However, the momentary accident had a devastating impact on the rest of his life.

He was not only given a criminal penalty, but also had his license revoked, which caused him to lose his job as a driver, which had been his source of livelihood. I didn’t know what to do at first, as if my hands and feet had been taken away. But after I was released from prison, my friends kindly helped me find a job, and my wife drove me to and from work every morning and evening, and somehow I managed to get this far.

Mr. Kataoka was 52 years old at the time of the accident and is now 72. In addition to delivering newspapers, he has been working various part-time jobs, such as reading water meters, delivering boxed lunches, transporting people to and from day care services, and staying overnight at a nursing home, while he lives out his days after the accident.

I wondered if the tire marks were really ‘brake marks’ from the sudden braking,” she said. Why was the testimony of the students that the bus had stopped ignored? ……

Twenty years have passed since that day, and many experts continue to have doubts about the judge’s decision to sentence Mr. Kataoka to prison.

In order to find a new way to request a retrial, it is important to continue to examine the case without letting it fade away.