Ryota Onogi Trial Set

Onogi's Crashed Rental Car

Ryota Onogi who was arrested on February 23 after going on a driving rampage near Nagoya Station, will be tried for 13 counts of attempted murder. The trial is set to begin May 19 in Aichi Superior Court. Details of the incident on February 23 were released by the prosecutors office yesterday after the jury selection finished and the trial date was set by judge Nobu Kitazawa.

Ryota Onogi, a 30-year-old resident of Nagoya, Japan was arrested on Sunday, February 23 after he admitted to intentionally driving his car onto a sidewalk and hitting 13 pedestrians near the Nagoya Station, this according to the police reports. He was apprehended a little after 2:15 that afternoon.

“I tried to kill people with the car,” Onogi was quoted as admitting to the investigators after he was taken into police custody. He had apparently steered the car he was driving car onto the sidewalk, bowling over unsuspecting pedestrians and running the car for around 35 meters before finally crashing the vehicle into a tree. The police apprehended Onogi right on the spot after his car had crashed. Onogi hit around 13 pedestrians, seriously injuring a 22-year-old man who sustained a broken hip, according to information from released police reports. The other 12 victims had sustained only minor injuries. According to the police, it was fortunate that the car was not going too fast, only around 35 to 40 kph when Onogi drove onto the sidewalk and plowed into the crowd.

The car was rented near the scene 15 minutes before Onogi went on the rampage. Onogi was unemployed and was angered over the fact his parents threw him out of their home that morning. Onogi’s father is a policeman on the Aichi police force and is due to retire later this year. The Aichi Prefectural Police did not hold the elder Onogi with any responsibility for his son’s actions. Ryota Onogi refused to appear at the proceedings yesterday in court leading prosecutors to comment to the judge that Onogi still remains uncooperative.

During the course of the investigation all Onogi would comment, “I wanted to kill people because of my parents.” When bailiffs went to bring Onogi into the courtroom Onogi refused to enter, so the judge allowed the proceedings to continue via video link to a cell Onogi was being held in. The trial is expected to run about a week as Onogi has already admitted to the charges and refuses to speak to his court appointed counsel. Onogi’s parents have visited him at the Aichi Detention Center but he refuses to speak to them detention have commented.

Zengoku News