Man plows car into garden in Hiroshima; parents, one child dead

Tuesday 30th December, 10:01 AM JST

HIROSHIMA —

A man driving along Route 486 in Mihara City lost control of his vehicle on Monday morning, and killed three people in their garden, including one child, police said. Teruyuki Akiyasu, 25, was charged with vehicular manslaughter after his car mounted a 15 centimeter-high curb and drove into the garden of Koji Moritani’s roadside home in Mihara City, hitting him, his wife and their 4-year-old daughter as they were doing some gardening. All three were taken to hospital and all died as a result of the accident, with Koji dying more than 10 hours later.

Police said Akiyasu lost control of his vehicle, and quoted him as saying: “I was speeding because I was in a hurry. I was turning left, but drove into the garden on the corner.” Police said that Akiyasu had returned to Mihara City to visit his parents.

Moritani’s eldest daughter was inside the house at the time of the incident and was not harmed.

Kyodo News Service

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Latest 15 of 18 Total Comments Show All

smithinjapan at 02:08 PM JST - 30th December

no excuses... the man was speeding and this is the tragic result.
Disillusioned at 02:34 PM JST - 30th December

When will Japanese drivers slow down? Or even better, when will the Japanese cops get up off their butts and start making an effort to reduce speeding? I live on a one-way lane that runs parallel to a main road and idiots scream along the lane at anything up 100kph or more using it as a short cut. It is only just one lane wide with no footpath. Many kids use the route to get to school. It's only a matter of before a kid gets killed if there haven't been deaths already. In Australia the cops put speed-bumps and barriers on back streets so idiots can't use them as a short cut race track. What do the Jap cops do? Bloody nothing! Hence, this bastard has just taken out a family. Congratulations J-cops! Chalk up another preventable death for the apathetic J-cops.
meiwaku at 02:44 PM JST - 30th December

Disillusioned. Exactly!! Japanese police. Please do something about all the irresponsible driving. These endless accidents are just terrible. I never see cops doing anything.
meiwaku at 02:51 PM JST - 30th December

The drivers do seem to get away with a lot here.
meiwaku at 02:54 PM JST - 30th December

I see these crazy buggers every day. Just last night about 7:00 a guy flew through a red light making a right turn, head cocked to one side on his cell phone. I wanted to chase him down and beat him senseless.
meiwaku at 02:55 PM JST - 30th December

Man! Poor eldest daughter.
bebert at 03:26 PM JST - 30th December

No kidding. The poor girl probably isn't even 10 and now she's an orphan. Life can take some pretty ugly turns. Hopefully she has some other relatives she can turn to. Sad.
smithinjapan at 03:33 PM JST - 30th December

"The poor girl probably isn't even 10 and now she's an orphan."

Not only an orphan, but no more siblings, either. Not a very happy holiday for this family, thanks to this lout speeding through the neighbourhood. I don't blame the police for this, per se, but I do blame the society in this country in general. There is a huge tendency towards ignoring 'minor laws' like seatbelts, speeding to make it just after the red light, use of cell phones on bikes/in cars, etc., as though said laws are not so bad if broken. Well, no surprise when we hear about all the related accidents and fatalities caused by ignorant people.
NeoJamal at 04:08 PM JST - 30th December

No Happy New Year for the little Mihara girl.

This is God awful and all I can do is read about the incident and feel crapier than usual.
BBLeo at 06:07 PM JST - 30th December

He was speeding because he was in a hurry. Now police should be in a hurry, wrap up the case and get him to court to get his sentence in a hurry for at least 20 years without parole or early realize.
martyman at 09:02 PM JST - 30th December

It will not be a very nice holiday season for this family. I hope the spirits of the deceased haunt him forever. The driver should go to the morgue prior to the cremation to see what he caused to the family. Having the last vision of who he murdered on his conscience and a life sentence would be great.

I hope the surviving daughter has relatives that will take care of her. It would be terrible for her to end up in an orphanage.
seeker1 at 12:37 AM JST - 31st December

Sad. Just after Christmas, and before New Years. Like martyman, I hope that the surviving daughter will have relatives to stay with. Ganbatte!

The driver was ironically rushing to get home for the New Years holiday. Now he will be spending several holidays in jail, a girl will grow up without her parents and sister, all because he was speeding.
WilliB at 01:16 AM JST - 31st December

Horrible situation for the surviving daughter. I hope there are at least some other relatives around to take care of her.
Japaneselove at 02:38 AM JST - 31st December

Thats terrible.
bcbrownboy at 07:17 AM JST - 31st December

I agree with Disillusioned - but about the speed bumps. It's almost impossible. We have the same situation with morning commuters speeding down our shogakkusi-filled one lane road. We went to city hall to have school signs/ped signs/speed bumps, anything installed. We were told we'd have to contact every member of the danchi, about 1200 people, and get them to unanimously sign a petition. So basically they say "get lost and don't bother us." Eventually some young student or slow obasan will get it. It drives me nuts. In Japan, stasis is natural, and change seems to be dirty word (unless it's connected to profit.) minor point - I think your reference to Japanese citizens is rank racism. And you should never refer to our hosts using that racist term.