Kozo Iizuka is seen entering the Tokyo District Court in Chiyoda Ward on Sept. 2, 2021. (Mainichi/Masahiro Ogawa)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A 90-year-old former top bureaucrat was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for negligence over a 2019 car accident in Tokyo in which a woman and her young daughter were killed.

       The Tokyo District Court ruled that Kozo Iizuka, a former chief of the now-defunct Agency of Industrial Science and Technology under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, was guilty of running a red light after mistaking the gas pedal for the brake, killing the mother and daughter and injuring nine.

       Iizuka had pleaded not guilty during his trial, maintaining that a mechanical issue with the car caused it to run out of control.

       Prosecutors had sought a seven-year prison term for Iizuka, saying that no problems with the car were found in an inspection conducted after the accident, and that there was no evidence of him applying the brakes during the incident.

       According to the indictment, Iizuka ran a red light after mistaking the gas pedal for the brake, hitting and killing bicycle-riding Mana Matsunaga, 31, and her 3-year-old daughter Riko when his vehicle entered a crosswalk in Tokyo's Ikebukuro area on April 19, 2019.

       He also injured nine others, including his wife who was a passenger in the car.

       Iizuka, who was also injured in the accident and hospitalized, was indicted without arrest in February last year, triggering a public outcry and claims that he had been given preferential treatment due to his former government position.

       The accident also stirred debate about the increasing number of elderly drivers on Japanese roads and the dangers they pose.

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