Overview

• The defendant, 小島史守（56）, was found to have repeatedly assaulted four girls aged 6–10 and recorded images at his home in Komaki, Aichi, from 2016 to 2024.
• After the victims’ guardians filed a statement on September 9, the High Court on September 10 revoked part of a secrecy order that had concealed his name and the crime location.
• Judges rejected the defense claim that settlement payments made the sentence excessive, affirming the first-instance view that his criminal responsibility is heavy.
• In a separate ruling on September 12, the Osaka High Court upheld a 16-year sentence for 山本孝 in a 2018 roadside fatal stabbing in Habikino, Osaka.
• Related proceedings progressed: prosecutors read pretrial statements in the Nagano four-murder trial, Chiba District Court imposed a two-year term suspended for four years in a nursery voyeurism case, and a civil suit over abuse at a children’s home opened in Utsunomiya.