A prison sentence of nine months and disqualification from driving for four years. The court in Den Bosch imposed this on Monday on a man from Heesch, who caused a fatal accident on the A50 highway in July 2022. He was nineteen at the time.
During the fatal journey, the driver drove about 200 kilometers per hour and recorded it with his phone. The victim was a 31-year-old woman from Uden, who was in the car with him. They returned home after a staff party with two other passengers, from Uden and Veghel.
Hit over the head
According to justice, the driver near Heeswijk-Dinther saw a truck driving in front of him too late. While trying to avoid a collision, he lost control of the car. The car then rolled over several times and came to a stop in a ditch. The woman from Udense had already been thrown out of the car, she was sitting behind the driver. The victim died two days later in a hospital from brain injuries. The two other passengers, aged nineteen and twenty from Veghel, were injured in the crash. The driver suffered a concussion.
The public prosecutor spoke of reckless driving two weeks ago. The court agreed with this and emphasized the consequences for the surviving relatives in its ruling. The fatal victim had a partner and was the mother of three young children (aged three, ten and thirteen at the time). The man from Heesch was also very blamed for having made videos in the past that showed him driving too fast in a car.
The driver admitted to drinking during the staff party at a fast food restaurant. According to him, it involved two mixed drinks, a Flügel and a shot. The alcohol content found in his blood was acceptable for a novice driver at that time. The blood was only taken 2.5 hours after the accident, which, according to the judge, may have played a role in the cause of the accident.
‘Too early for forgiveness’
The man could not remember anything about the ride itself, he said during the hearing. He was visibly emotional and expressed the hope that the Udense family would forgive him for his driving.
The victim’s mother-in-law has little compassion. She spoke of a nightmare and hoped that an appropriate punishment would be imposed: “And if you want to be as tough now as you were then, you accept the punishment you receive.”
When considering the sentence, the court took into account that the perpetrator has shown ‘sincere remorse’ and that he ‘is having a very difficult time with the loss of his colleague due to his actions.’ The driver will still face three months in prison if he commits another crime within the next two years. In addition to a four-year driving ban, he was required to serve ten months in prison and another six months conditionally.
The emergency services were present en masse after the report of the serious accident on July 12, 2022: