TOKYO, Oct 21 — A Tokyo district court sentenced 32-year-old Australian Daniel Mathew Otto to two years in prison for breaking into the Shinjuku home of a 70-year-old Japanese man and injuring the latter in June 2023.
However, the point of contention in court was over something Otto reportedly said to the unnamed Japanese elder before he acted, The Japan Times reported today.
According to the news report, Otto claimed to have been passing a house on June 23 last year when he smelt a gas leak and told the 70-year-old man, “Go to a door!” and “Can you walk?”
However, the victim testified that Otto shouted “gōtō da” and “kane wa doko da?” (Translation: “This is a robbery” and “Where is the money?)
In his ruling, judge Jun Shimato decided that Otto’s account was untrustworthy because the latter attempted to unlock a window with a gardening shovel.
Otto was reported to have broken into the double-storey house through the roof and balcony and injured the victim’s head when they wrestled; he was later reported to have fled the scene after.
Ultimately, the judge sentenced Otto for breaking-and-entering but not for robbery.
Otto’s defencee lawyer, Rie Nishida, plans to appeal, calling the decision “very unreasonable.”
Otto was reported to have only 490 days to serve since he had already been detained for 240 days while awaiting the conclusion of his trial.
