NewsDeath of a four-year-old man convicted after drifting

Death of a four-year-old man convicted after drifting

It should be a toboggan trip for several families. Then some of the adults drift in their cars. In the end, a child is dead, relationships are broken, and a couple is attacked.

Gera – A white SUV drives over a snow-covered field, begins to lurch, there is a crash, screams are heard. Then the video stops. It is the last moments before the death of a four-year-old girl that is shown on Monday, accompanied by the sobbing of relatives in front of the Gera district court.

The 26-year-old driver of the car sits huddled in the dock. The sentence against him will later be on probation for negligent homicide for one and a half years. But from the court’s point of view, it is not only he who is at least morally guilty.

The disaster initially took its course quite harmlessly on a Sunday at the beginning of January, as those involved in the process describe. The first snow had fallen, several children from neighboring Gera families gathered for a snowball fight in an inner courtyard. Later, a group of several adults and children drove in three cars to a nearby field. Sledges were packed – the plan was to go tobogganing with the children, it is said.

For the group, including the father of the child who died later, this apparently also meant tying sleds to cars and pulling them across the snow-covered field. That alone causes incomprehension among the presiding judge Joachim Meier.

But that’s not all: the three men who had come with their cars also had “the crazy idea” of drifting across the snow-covered field. So: To drive the car over the snowy and muddy field in such a way that the rear axle breaks out every now and then. And that although there were four children who should have been protected by the adults, says Meier.

He lost control

That went well for a while. But shortly before the group wanted to go home again, the 26-year-old decided to take one last trip. Their tragic outcome is partly recorded in the video: After he had performed his maneuvers a bit away from the group, he came back on a dirt road. According to an expert present, he drove an average of 44 kilometers per hour despite the snow and mud. He lost control, slipped his car against the girl sitting on his sled and wedged her between the car and the parked bus. The four-year-old died as a result of the injuries.

Many tears flow

After the girl’s death, many lives changed suddenly. The child’s mother, who was not there on the excursion, joined the proceedings as a joint plaintiff. On Monday, she sits in the courtroom with tears in her eyes, leaves the room several times, several relatives are sobbing in the auditorium. According to the father, who also testifies, the relationship broke up after the daughter’s death. Another couple who were on the outing with their children also split up after the accident.

And the driver involved in the accident? According to his own statements, the man has been receiving psychological treatment since then. He was exposed to hostility in the network and on the street. Someone even threw a metal grate at him. His wife bursts into tears on the witness stand, saying that “hell” has been her life since the attacks.

Even the defendant does not hold back the tears and apologizes to the parents of the child, with whom he had been friends in the past. “I can only say that I am so sorry for everything and that I just hope that everyone can cope with it.”

In view of the group dynamics that arose and the general carelessness during the excursion, it was not only the defendant who bore massive guilt, says Richter Meier. “There are also a few people who are at least morally responsible.” Ultimately, he was unlucky that something happened during his trip. In his sentence of one and a half years suspended sentence, he largely followed the prosecution’s request. The secondary prosecution had demanded two years, the defense pleaded for a fine. The verdict is not yet legally binding. dpa

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