Omar E., who killed four people in Oud Gastel at the beginning of September, will probably not receive a prison sentence for this collision. The man was provisionally released by the court in Breda on Tuesday pending trial. According to his lawyer Yehudi Moszkowicz, this release does not say everything, but it does seem to point to a lesser sentence.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, Omar E. (27) drove at 155 kilometers per hour on September 2 at the Borchwerf business park in Oud Gastel, where you are only allowed 50. At the intersection of the Roosendaalsebaan with the Blauwhekken, he collided with a Toyota with five people in it. At that time he was still driving 95.
Two young children and two women were killed. Another child was injured. The victims come from two families in Bosschenhoofd.
According to lawyer Moszkowicz, the sentence for Omar E. will not be significantly higher than his six months in custody, because Omar cannot be blamed for driving recklessly. “Then you have to pile up mistakes and, for example, drive too fast on the hard shoulder with too much alcohol.”
Moszkowicz believes that his client is guilty of ‘significantly careless driving’ and that carries a less severe penalty than, for example, reckless driving. “You can only blame him for one thing and that is that he drove hard. When he got to the intersection, the other car was already more than a car length over the shark teeth.”
The lawyer does not expect that a substantive hearing will take place before the summer. “The Netherlands Forensic Institute is going to do additional research into the Event Data Recorders of the car. And more witnesses need to be heard.”
Omar E. is not just released from pre-trial detention. A number of conditions apply to him. In addition to a duty to report to the probation service and to hand in his driver’s license and passport, he must also always and fully cooperate with investigations and be present in court during hearings.
If he does not comply with any of the conditions, he will have to go back to prison.