A court acquitted a former executive of Schindler Elevator K.K. on Tuesday over an elevator accident in 2006 that killed a 16-year-old high school student in Tokyo. But it handed down suspended prison terms to three maintenance company officials.
Nine years after the accident, which was caused by a braking system abnormality, the Tokyo District Court acquitted Ryuichi Harada, who was in charge of maintenance, saying there was "no objective evidence" proving that the abnormality had occurred by November 2004 when the 46-year-old checked the elevator.
But the presiding judge, Shinji Sugiyama, found guilty three people at SEC Elevator Co., which took over Schindler's maintenance work in April 2006, saying they overlooked the abnormality and "neglected their duty to establish an appropriate system for checks and maintenance."