The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday sentenced a 26-year-old man to 3½ years in prison for attacking another man with sulfuric acid at a Tokyo subway station.
The court convicted Hirotaka Hanamori of causing injury to a man, who had belonged to the same university club, at Tokyo Metro's Shirokane-takanawa Station in August 2021. Prosecutors had sought a six-year sentence for the defendant.
Hanamori pleaded guilty at the trial's first hearing in September last year. According to the indictment, he threw acid on the man as he was riding an escalator on the night of Aug. 24, 2021, and caused burns to his face and damage to both eyes, the latter of which had further complications for around three months.
Presiding Judge Masaru Nomura said in the ruling that Hanamori had been made fun of and feared the victim would harm him, and that experiences in the past had made him believe he was being targeted by the victim.
While recognizing that Hanamori could have been influenced by his autism, the judge said that he had planned the attack "with strong determination and made careful preparations."
Hanamori was put on a nationwide wanted list after the attack. He initially fled Tokyo for his residence in Shizuoka, and subsequently flew to Okinawa, where he was arrested within days.
The defendant and the victim were in the same club as students at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa Prefecture. Hanamori later went on to enroll at Shizuoka University.