The Tokyo District Court awarded 32 million yen in compensation Thursday to a Tokyo mother whose 8-year-old son was killed after being hit by a dump truck.
The truck was being driven by a man who was initially acquitted of negligence in the case and then later convicted.
The court ordered Shoichi Mitamura, 35, and his employer to pay damages to Akiyo Katayama, 40, whose son, Shun, was run over while crossing an intersection in Setagaya Ward on Nov. 28, 1997.
Mitamura, the driver of the truck, was initially charged with professional negligence resulting in death. Prosecutors decided to drop the charges, however, without providing an explanation for their actions to the boy's parents. He had claimed that he was unaware that his truck had struck the child.
The boy's parents appealed to the Tokyo High Public Prosecutor's Office to reopen the case, which lead to the driver's indictment in November 1998.
The Tokyo District Court gave Mitamura a suspended two-year prison term last May, but the mother filed a civil suit with the court demanding 82 million yen in compensation.
The case provoked a public uproar over the conduct of the prosecutors, who failed to tell the parents why they had dropped the charges.
In response, the government set up a system in April for notifying crime victims of the punishment being imposed on offenders and the process used to determine that punishment.
After hearing the ruling, the mother, accompanied by her husband, Tadaari, met reporters at the district court and said she was satisfied with the ruling.
"The judge said our son did nothing wrong. We are pleased with the ruling, in that the judge listened to us well," she said, adding that they are happy their efforts led to the creation of the new system.