The Girona Court has sentenced to three years and three months in prison the driver who fatally ran over a couple crossing a pedestrian crossing in Roses on May 8, 2021. The sentence, issued by the third section of the Provincial Court, also imposes on him four years of deprivation of the right to drive and the loss of validity of the license.
The accident occurred around 14:55 hours on the Roses bypass, on a stretch connected to the C 260, signposted with a 40 kilometers per hour limit and with a pedestrian crossing. A 67-year-old woman died at the scene and her husband, 63, died later in the hospital. The resolution attributes both deaths to a craniocerebral trauma.
Overtook on the right and was driving above the limit
The court considers it proven that the convicted person was driving a Nissan Juke behind another vehicle that slowed down upon noticing that two people were starting to cross. At that moment, the now convicted person overtook on the right the car that had slowed down to give way to the pedestrians and ran them over.
The court considers it proven that the vehicle was traveling between 64 and 75 kilometers per hour on a road limited to 40. The sentence adds that the driver was under the influence of alcohol and states that the breathalyzer tests showed 0.73 and 0.63 mg/l in exhaled air, above the criminal threshold. When the police arrived at the scene, the officers noticed clear signs of having drunk.
The Court sees a grave imprudence
The magistrates maintain that the driver omitted the most basic precautionary measures. They also point out that there were no visibility problems nor external factors that explained the running over. In the opinion of the court, if he had adapted his driving to what was happening on the road, the accident was avoidable.
The sentence fits the facts into two crimes of homicide by gross negligence in conjunction with a crime against road safety for driving under the influence of alcohol. The court, however, rules out a notably serious negligence that would justify a higher penalty.
The sentence is reduced for undue delays
The sentence has been set at three years and three months because the Court recognizes the mitigating circumstance of undue delays. The ruling considers that the processing of the case was excessively prolonged, with periods of paralysis not attributable to the accused, almost reaching five years between the start of the proceedings and the trial.
During the hearing, the Prosecutor's Office and the private prosecution, exercised by lawyer Manuel Vivó, maintained different classifications regarding the criminal scope of the facts. Even so, the sentence underlines that the claims of the private prosecution have not been useless nor superfluous, which is why it imposes on the convicted party the costs of the process, including those of that prosecution.
Without new civil pronouncement
In matters of civil liability, the Court does not make a new ruling because the compensations have already been satisfied. The resolution indicates that the insurer had already deposited the amounts corresponding to the children and siblings of the victims and does not impose the interests claimed by the private prosecution.
The sentence maintains the precautionary measures agreed upon in the case, especially those adopted on May 10, 2021, among them the precautionary withdrawal of the right to drive. Against the resolution, an appeal can be filed before the Civil and Criminal Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia.