Satoru Umeta, 24, was convicted of assaulting singers Rina Kawaei and Anna Iriyama, both 19, along with one of the group’s male employees at a “hand-shaking event” for fans in Takizawa City, Iwate Prefecture last May, CNN’s affiliate TV Asahi reported.
The attack left the three victims severely injured, according to Japan’s Kyodo news agency.
Handing down the sentence in the Morioka District Court, Judge Takehiko Okada said that the consequences of the attack — which involved a foldable saw fitted with box cutter blades — could have been worse.
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In February 2013, eyebrows were raised when member Minami Minegishi appeared in a YouTube video with a shaven head, making a tearful apology for having stayed the night at a male friend’s place — against the group’s strict code of conduct.
READ MORE: When a pop star break’s J-pop’s ‘bushido code’
