The first ruling sentenced the young man to 15 months prison as a suspended sentence, a driving ban of 36 months (12 of these fixed), and a €1,500 fine back in October.
The vehicle, which had surpassed capacity and had six passengers including the driver, hit a tree head-on after previously having grazed another tree. A day after the accident, one of the six passengers, a 19 year-old man, died of his injuries.
The man’s father, mother, and sister received a total of €90,000 compensation in the initial ruling. Of the other four passengers, two received €8,500 while waiting for professional confirmation of damages incurred. The driver’s insurance company had appealed the first verdict.
The company’s lawyer pleaded for shared responsibility in the matter. According to Mr Sigwalt, the passengers had all agreed to get into the car despite knowing that the driver had been smoking cannabis. Moreover, not only did two of the backseat passengers not have their seat belts on, but there were four backseat passengers where there should only have been three, he argued.
This state of affairs warranted a claim of “shared responsibility”, a claim which the lawyer of the accused echoed. The defendant's lawyer asserted that there was no justification for the passengers to agree to get in the car and run the risks involved.
Lawyers of both the other passengers and the victim’s family rejected this claim. Cathy Arendt and Tom Luciani questioned whether the passengers even knew that the driver had been under the influence. The victim’s family’s lawyer Lopes Gonalves reiterated the first damage compensation claim of €110,000.
The verdict will fall on the 25 June.
