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A 64-year-old man from Malaga has been acquitted of causing the death of his wife, 62, in a collision at the Guísamo-Tronco tollbooth on the AP-9-F motorway (La Coruña-Ferrol). The accident happened at 11.45am on 18 January, 2020, and while the public prosecution sought a prison sentence for the driver, arguing that he had committed gross negligence manslaughter, the court accepted the man's version of events, which claimed a brake failure. The criminal court convicted him of negligence, albeit of a less serious nature, and imposed a fine. Ultimately, the court of appeal acquitted him of all charges.
The collision occurred during the couple's trip to Galicia and Portugal. In an unfortunate turn of events at the Guísamo-Tronco toll, the man lost control of the car, a Renault Kadjar, which made a few abrupt changes of direction and before hitting the toll wall and booth, and ultimately turning over.
The accident resulted in one casualty and two injured. The driver had three broken vertebrae and a punctured lung. The female toll worker, who also suffered serious injuries, took 149 days to fully recover. The wife of the defendant died at the scene.
In addition to the loss of his wife, the driver faced legal proceedings on the grounds that he had caused the crash by speeding as he entered the toll area. In its statement, the Guardia Civil concluded that the accident had been caused by "distraction or inattention" to driving when "choosing the tollbooth". According to the investigation, the driver allegedly hesitated whether to take the booths towards Santiago and Lugo, which are on the left, or those towards La Coruña, which are on the right.
The officers described the mechanics of the accident as follows: "[...] Although it initially followed a straight trajectory towards the booths in the centre, [the car] suddenly made an abrupt left turn, followed by a right turn, after which it collided with the protective wall at the entrance, the pay booth, before toppling over."
In their report, the investigators noted that the car had entered "at a speed inappropriate for the area", given the presence of "perfectly visible signs". The report also stated that the driver had maintained that speed "while selecting the lane to pass through, leading to abrupt turning manoeuvres."
According to the Guardia Civil's calculations, the driver was travelling at 82.8km/h in an area where the limit is 40. He tested negative for drugs and alcohol.
In his statement, the man explained that, the previous day, they had travelled from Malaga to La Coruña to visit relatives. They went to bed early. After a good night's sleep they continued on their journey. The last thing he remembered was his wife telling him that the car "was acting up", so he "tried to straighten it out, but couldn't" and they crashed into the concrete structure.
The driver told the Guardia Civil that the brakes of the vehicle must have failed, because he could not explain what had happened, as the car had been in perfect condition. He had taken it to a garage the day before for a minor maintenance check. He described himself as an "experienced driver" who travelled a lot.
In the initial report to the judge, the Guardia Civil stated that it could not rule out a possible failure of the braking system of the car, which had more than 200,000 kilometres on it. However, during the trial held in September 2023, the investigators explained that, after reviewing a video of the accident recorded by a DGT camera, they had dismissed the possibility of a mechanical failure.
The man was facing a possible sentence of two years and seven months in prison for gross negligence manslaughter in connection with his wife’s death, as well as gross negligence injury to the toll booth employee.
Jesús R. Martín Fernández, the defendant's lawyer, asked for acquittal and relied on a report by legal expert Manuel Madrid Rider of MMR Estudios Pericialesa, specialist in traffic accident analysis, to support his client’s version of a mechanical failure.
The couple's two daughters waived any compensation and asked for the case to be closed. The worker injured in the accident did not file a complaint. The court requested the defendant to pay €13,319 in civil liability for the damage to the toll structure.
The criminal court of La Coruña fined the defendant 2,250 euros, ruling that he had ignored "the most basic rules of caution and care" while driving and had "failed to pay attention to the signs and the car's speed".
The public prosecutor's office appealed the sentence of the criminal court, arguing that the case should be reviewed as serious negligence, leading to a prison sentence. In defence of his client, Jesús R. Martín Fernández stated that "it was not accredited" that the accident had been caused by the driver's behaviour. The lawyer criticised the lack of investigation into the possible failure of the car, specifically the brakes and the clutch, suggesting that the driver's version had been dismissed from the outset.
During the initial inspection of the vehicle, officers found that the braking and steering systems were damaged. However, it was neither verified nor investigated whether the damage occurred before the accident or as a result of it.
The second section of the court of appeal of La Coruña accepted the defence's arguments. The video showed the rear brake lights coming on briefly, but the car did not slow down. The court concluded that the lights may have stopped activating either because the driver did not press the brake pedal or because the vehicle was not in proper condition.
The court also recalls that no braking marks were found on the asphalt and that the vehicle crashed while in sixth gear. "The lack of explanation, combined with common knowledge, indicates that this gear is not typically used when driving at 80 or 90 kilometres per hour. Therefore, this information, as presented by the Guardia Civil, seems to suggest that something went wrong and is consistent with the appellant's statements," the new ruling states.
The court deemed it unacceptable that, if there had been an enquiry to determine whether the braking system was faulty, such a test was not carried out. "The presumption of innocence requires proof of the facts underpinning the conviction beyond reasonable doubt," the court concluded, acquitting the defendant of all charges. The sentence is now final.
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