Magistrates have sentenced a lorry driver to a 6-month suspended prison sentenced for running over and killing two girls, aged nine and one and a half in Antwerp last year. The trucker was also fined 6,000 euro, half of which was also suspended and given an 18-month driving ban after he was found to have been responsible for the fatal accident that happened at the corner of the Lange Leemstraat and the Sint-Vicentiusstraat in Antwerp.
Antwerp
6-month suspended sentence for truck driver that ran over and killed two sisters in Antwerp
Published:
The two girls were run over as they crossed the road. The lorry driver had not seen that they were crossing. The two sisters were pushing their scooter across the crossing when they were run over. Both they and the lorry driver had the right of way.
The lorry driver told the court that he had not seen the girls and that he had not been distracted when the accident happened. He said that he was driving at between 4 and 6 km/h as he had not yet changed gear. However, CCTV images contradict this claim. The driver failed to use his indicators and was in fact driving at 20 km/h.
The prosecutor told the court that “If he had been paying attention, he would have had to have seen the girls”.
In addition to a 6-month suspended prison sentence and a 6,000-euro fine (half of which suspended), the lorry driver has been banned from driving for 18 months (12 of which suspended) and has been ordered to re-sit his theoretical and practical driving tests. He must also undergo a medical and psychological test.