Mother Seeks to End Statute of Limitations for Hit-and-Run Cases

Tokyo, Dec. 10 (Jiji Press)--The mother of a 10-year-old killed in a hit-and-run incident near Tokyo in 2009 submitted a petition with about 190,000 signatures on Tuesday calling for the abolition of the statute of limitations for the offense.

Yoriko Koseki, whose son, Takanori, died after being hit by a car, which later fled, while heading home on a bicycle on Sept. 30, 2009, in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, submitted the petition to the Justice Ministry. It was the seventh time that she has submitted petitions, including by mail, to the ministry.

Saitama prefectural police initially investigated the case with a view to charges of negligent driving resulting in death and failure to stop after an accident, but the statute of limitations on the latter expired in 2016.

Police are still continuing the investigation after switching the alleged offense from negligent driving, for which the statute of limitations was about to expire, to dangerous driving. The new statute of limitations will expire in three years and 10 months.

The petition argued that the statute of limitations for hit-and-run cases is short and allows perpetrators to benefit from fleeing the accident site. The time limit has expired in most unresolved cases resulting in death or serious injury, it added.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]