Overview

• The Chiba District Court found Kengo Takanashi guilty in a lay-judge trial and imposed a 16-year prison term, compared with a 20-year request by prosecutors and an eight-year plea from the defense.
• According to the verdict, Takanashi and others broke into a Shiroi home on October 16, 2024, assaulted a woman in her 70s and her 40s daughter, and stole about ¥260,000 and cash cards.
• The court said the group invaded a residence in Ichikawa the next day, bound a woman in her 50s with tape, took cash, and confined her for about 14 hours at a Saitama hotel.
• Presiding Judge Shu Minakami cited testimony that the assailants broke the victim’s fingers one by one and concluded the violence showed no resistance to crime despite the defendant’s later surrender.
• The ruling found Takanashi applied via social media for a for-profit 'dark part-time job' scheme, and noted that two alleged accomplices, Shuu Fujii and Rikuto Kubota, remain indicted with proceedings continuing.