At the preliminary session held on December 13th, 2023, the Debrecen District Court announced the verdict in the case of the defendant who caused a fatal accident near Létavértes. At the preparatory meeting, the accused admitted to committing the crime and waived his right to a trial.
The court found the accused guilty of negligently causing a fatal road accident, and therefore – according to the prosecution’s moderate motion – sentenced him to 2 years in prison, the execution of which was suspended for a probationary period of 3 years and 6 months, and he was permanently banned from driving on the road.
According to the verdict, on September 10th, 2022, at 10:35 a.m., the defendant was driving on the outskirts of Létavértes on road number 4814 from Debrecen in the direction of Létavértes in the BMW car he was driving. While driving the vehicle, the accused started overtaking the car traveling in the same direction in front of him without making sure that his overtaking was or was not disturbing the oncoming traffic. The defendant moved into the left lane of the roadway, then overtook an Opel car that was driving at a speed of 84-89 kilometers per hour. The innocent driver braked in vain to avoid the accident, but he could not avoid the collision. When the victim actually detected the danger, he was already within the braking distance even in case of emergency braking, so the accident was unavoidable. The victim could have avoided the collision only if, instead of braking, he steered into a deep ditch beside the road when he actually detected the danger, but at the given speed, the maneuver would have involved a high passenger safety risk.
The man, who was driving legally, suffered such serious injuries as a result of the accident that he died despite professional medical treatment. The other two passengers of the car and the driver’s wife, are recovering for more than eight days, while the boys in child seats suffered minor injuries. The defendant was also seriously injured during the accident. Judge Dr. Zsolt Vágó, during the justification of the sentence, evaluated as an aggravating circumstance, among other things, the fact that the accused has a criminal record and that several people were injured in the accident. At the same time, he took into account as mitigating circumstances the fact that the man admitted to committing the crime, has an impeccable driving record and that the defendant himself was injured in the accident. The court’s decision is not final, as the defendant and his lawyer filed an appeal against the permanent ban from driving, so the case continues at the Debrecen Court of Appeal.
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