1/5 Peter and Angela have a prominent place for their deceased daughter in their living room.
Esmee Hoesen (14) was run over by a garbage truck on December 19, near her house in the outskirts of Sint Anthonis. She was on her way to school on that dark morning just before Christmas. The driver of a garbage truck overlooked her when she wanted to turn to Stevensbeekseweg from a smaller country road. Esmee had no chance against such a big truck and died on the spot.
The 14-year-old Esmee is still prominent ten months after her death in her parental home on Den Hoek in Sint Anthonis. In the middle of the living room is a large portrait of her and in a cupboard underneath there are many photos and all kinds of things collected from her.
Here in this farm, Esmee lived with her mother Angela, father Peter and her younger sister. The day she died, her parents never forget. “It was a normal morning,” says Peter. “I was still in bed and Angela opened. Police. I had to come right away.”
The agents had the worst possible news for the bewildered parents. “Your daughter had a serious accident and she died,” they immediately told without a fuss. The last time Angela spoke to her oldest daughter, it turned out that morning in the bathroom. Then she was gone, to school in Boxmeer.
Esmee has been cycling thousands of times over the Rondveld to the T-junction with the Stevensbeekseweg in Sint Anthonis. There she always crossed over to get on the cycle path. That Thursday morning just before the Christmas holidays it was dark and busy. Esmee waited patiently behind a car that wanted to turn onto the road, when a garbage truck approached the round field from behind. The driver was the 41-year-old Lidwina S. from Nijmegen who had started her round early.
In the court in Den Bosch it turned out on 8 September that she never saw Esmee, despite the fact that the rear light of Esmee’s bicycle was clearly burning and there was hundreds of meters clear. Nor did Lidwina Esmee noticed in her blind spot when she wanted to turn right: she did not register the images of the cameras on the side of her truck. While she can see those images in her cabin.
Esmee’s parents cannot do with their mind what happened to their daughter that morning. “That woman was not allowed to drive at all,” says father Peter. “She just had her big driver’s license and did not feel familiar in that car at all.”
The parents do not understand that the woman did not see Esmee on that long way towards the T-junction. But driver Lidwina turned out not to be sober either. She had used Speed the night before and was still under the influence during the collision. It also appeared to have a large criminal record with arson and many convictions for alcohol and drugs in traffic, with or without a driver’s license.
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The parents of Esmee once again shake their heads at the dining table when they are talking about it again. If someone drove safely it was Esmee, says Peter. Both parents tell what a nice child she was: a very cool, dear girl of 14, friendly and helpful who was ready for everyone, they summarize.
“We had a dad’s child and a mama’s child,” Peter explains the division of roles. Esmee went to Dad more and loved Rock music, just like Peter. Metallica, ACDC, that work. “Last year I went to Rammstein in Nijmegen with her,” says Angela. “That was her first major concert.”
The parents think the punishment for driver Lidwina is far too low. She got two years in prison from the judge, one of which is conditional. She must also be treated for her disorders and her addiction to alcohol and drugs. “A punishment is never high enough,” says Angela. “I had hoped for a longer punishment, because we have lifelong,” she says on the day of the court’s decision.
The lack of both parents and the younger sister of Esmee is life -size. “Our entire family life has changed,” says Angela. “The three of us are now trying to make it, but we don’t really know how to proceed. For example, Christmas will never be the same again.”
Trust that Lidwina will come on the right path due to her punishment and treatment, both parents do not have the way. “I have a hard head in that,” says Peter immediately. “She has proven so many times that she can’t do it. Previous penalties have not helped either.”
Angela and Peter still regularly go to the intersection where the fatal accident happened. The municipality has placed a bench there, so that the parents and also the Friends of Esmee can sit there and think of Esmee. They then look out at a T-junction, as there are thousands in Brabant, where the inattention of a driver lost her life. The many flowers, hugs and photos in Esmee’s parental home, a few minutes from the intersection, keep the memory of her alive.