Utrecht

A 27-year-old motorist has been sentenced to six months in prison for hitting two women in the Utrecht village of Hei- en Boeicop. One of the victims was left paralyzed by the accident.

The accident happened in November 2020. The two women took a walk in the evening and wore reflective vests to be visible. They were walking along the side of the road when a delivery van hit them from behind. One victim suffered a severe concussion, the other suffered a spinal cord injury and became almost completely disabled.

Police investigation revealed that the driver had been on his phone just before the accident. He would have alternately used the apps from Marktplaats, WhatsApp and Snapchat. The Public Prosecution Service had therefore demanded a prison sentence of six months and a two-year driving ban.

Emotions ran high during the hearing of the case two weeks ago, writes RTV Utrecht. This is how the victim, who became largely paralyzed, spoke. “Never walk again, never make a cup of tea for visitors again. And just now that I am almost becoming a grandmother, it also dawns on me that I will never be able to stomp through the puddles with that child,” she said in court. “I’ve gone from an active woman who traveled the world to someone who is completely dependent is become of others.”

The judge found it proven that the man was on his phone during the accident, knowing that he was driving on an unlit narrow road. In addition, he drove too fast and did not keep enough to the right. “The suspect did not pay enough attention to the road, so that he hit the clearly visible pedestrians who were walking behind each other, two girlfriends who were experienced walkers,” the judge ruled.

The judge also firmly charges the man with his attitude after the accident. Especially since he deleted his phone data shortly afterwards and insisted for a long time that he no longer knew whether or not he had his phone with him. “From all this an image emerges of a suspect who does everything he can to deny the facts and frustrate the process of finding the truth,” said the judge.

In addition to the prison sentence, the suspect was banned from driving for two years and he must pay the disabled victim 275,000 euros in damages.

According to lawyer Merlijn Treur, this is the highest amount ever imposed by a court after a traffic accident. “Previously, an amount of 200,000 euros was awarded by a judge after an accident, but it has never been so high.”

To arrive at that amount, several factors were considered, he explains. “You actually determine: what is suffering now? Then similar judgments of judges who have ruled on the amount of compensation, but no case is identical.”

The fact that the judge went along with the amount surprised Treur somewhat. “Given the nature and severity of the injuries, the amounts awarded in previous judgments and inflation, a higher compensation was to be expected,” he explains. “But because the compensation was demanded in criminal proceedings, the court could also have declared the amount inadmissible because it may create a disproportionate burden on the criminal process. But that did not happen in this case.”

Counsel is pleased with the verdict. “My client was also very satisfied.”