MIE (TR) – The Tsu District Court on Wednesday handed down a suspended prison sentence to a 27-year-old male truck driver who last year threatened an employee of a parcel delivery company with a chainsaw and uploaded footage of the incident to the internet, reports NHK (Mar. 22).
Presiding judge Masanori Takahashi handed Kazuhiro Hasegawa a prison term of 18 months, suspended for three years, for entering an office of Yamato Transport in Iga City and swinging a chainsaw in front of an employee early on December 3.
Takahashi described the crime as “selfish.” “The impact to society of uploading footage of the crime is large,” the judge said.
Hasegawa filmed the crime and posted the footage to his YouTube channel (hsgw935). After arresting Hasegawa, police quoted him as saying that he “was looking forward to watching the view count rise.”
The video shows an enraged and shirtless Hasegawa screaming at the Yamato Transport employee as he demands his package be handed over. “I’m going to broadcast this all over the world,” Hasegawa is heard shouting as the worker repeatedly apologizes. “Don’t be looking down on a YouTuber, now.”
According to the prosecution, Hasegawa received about 440,000 yen in commissions from advertising following the upload of the clip. Prosecutors had sought an 18-month prison term.
