Daniel was just jailed in Tokyo for two years. His lawyers claim the court ignored crucial evidence

Australian man Daniel Otto has been sentenced for allegedly breaking into a home in Japan, with his legal team stating they believe the court overlooked key evidence during the trial. The Tokyo District Court found that 33-year-old Otto unlawfully entered the Shinjuku home of 70-year-old Masahiro Masuda on the night of June 23 last year, at 11:30 pm.

The prosecution claimed during the trial that the elderly man heard Otto say "This is a robbery," after which a physical altercation ensued. Otto's lawyers, however, argued that the entire incident was a misunderstanding, with Otto attempting to warn Masuda about a nearby gas leak but was misinterpreted due to language barriers. Defense lawyer Rie Nishida pointed out that Otto was practicing parkour outdoors at the time and smelled gas from a nearby building.

According to the lawyers, after smelling gas, Otto attempted to warn nearby residents of the potential fire risk by climbing over a fence. When he came face-to-face with the elderly man inside the house, Otto said "Go to a door" in English – a phrase that sounds like "gōtō da" in Japanese, meaning "This is a robbery." Nishida stated early in the trial, "Otto was shouting 'Gas, gas' and 'Go, gas' in simple English."

The court determined that Otto entered the apartment, and Masuda grabbed Otto's hands in resistance, after which he was pushed back into the house. During the ensuing brief altercation, the elderly man suffered a head injury that required three stitches. The Tokyo District Court judge ultimately dismissed Otto's defense that he was trying to help the elderly man evacuate the room. Otto was found not guilty of robbery, but guilty of trespassing and assault, and will serve 490 days in prison, having already been detained for 240 days.

Otto, who graduated from the University of New South Wales with a linguistics degree in 2022, moved to Japan afterward. According to his LinkedIn profile, he has since worked various freelance jobs, translating video games, software, and anime into English. Otto's lawyers stated that he was not wearing a mask, nor carrying a bag or phone on the night of the incident. "I think they just ignored our supportive evidence, the video recording, and all the objective evidence and made a very unreasonable decision," Nishida told 9news.com.au. "And the victim only had three stitches to his head, (which) is probably just a very small wound."

Nishida also stated that the two-year actual sentence was too harsh, considering the norm. Nishida said she spoke with Otto after the verdict. "He was very disappointed that the court ignored all of the objective material," she said. The court's verdict stated that police at the scene did not smell gas, but the defense disputes this. Nishida claims that Otto was interrogated by police with a translator after his arrest in September 2023. She alleges that investigating officer Sergeant Yamamoto discussed "a similar smell to gasoline" with the translator during the interrogation.

Despite playing a recording of this conversation to the court, she said Yamamoto denied remembering any smell of gasoline. "But the existence of the investigative information, and the fact that there was still a similar smell of gasoline months after the incident, was a very, very favorable factor for us, but it was ignored." Otto's legal team has not yet appealed the verdict.