A trucker was convicted Tuesday of killing an 8-year-old boy in a 1997 traffic accident and handed a suspended sentence in a case that prosecutors initially dropped for "a lack of witnesses" and later reopened under public pressure.
The Tokyo District Court sentenced Shoichi Mitamura, 35, to two years in prison suspended for four years for professional negligence resulting in the death of Shun Katayama.
The case raised public awareness of the rights of crime victims and their families to be kept informed by investigative and judicial authorities.