Damme (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Back in January, a Kaprijke resident (22) received a verdict of innocence following a major traffic accident on Natiënlaan in Damme. Two occupant casualties occurred when the first lost their life instantly, followed by the second victim’s death 9 months later.
As reported by VRT, a 22-year-old male resident of Kaprijke received a court-assigned acquittal because of his involvement in the fatal car crash on Natiënlaan in Damme. A traffic accident on Natiënlaan in Damme on June 18th 2023, caused the immediate death of a 17-year-old passenger, followed by another victim’s demise from injuries nine months after the incident. Both the young defendant and his lawyer continuously declared that he did not operate the vehicle at the time of the crash. The Nautical Court of Bruges dropped all charges because insufficient information existed to support a conviction.
At 6:00 AM, the vehicle with four Ukrainian nationals behind the wheel reached 130 km/h through a restricted area with a speed limit of 90 km/h. The driver suddenly hit the handbrake for an unknown reason, resulting in the vehicle spinning out of control and smashing into a lamppost.
The severe force from the impact split the entire vehicle into two sections. The rear passenger, 17 years old, died immediately, while the driver and front-seat passenger received severe injuries. The third passenger among four occupants received minor injuries in the accident. Medical staff declared a serious injury victim dead at the hospital.
What are other notable traffic incidents in the same region?
The results from our online search failed to find similar fatal accidents reported in Belgium, where the Damme case took place. The legal system in Malta produced a parallel result in 2017 by acquitting a young male who caused his sister’s death during a motor vehicle collision.
According to the court’s ruling the mechanical failure responsible for the crash prompted a verdict that correlated with the “reasonable doubt” standard used in the Damme case. Courts tend to favour the innocence presumption when they encounter legally insufficient evidence. The 2017 Cospicua crash in Malta ended with the acquittal of the driver because defence experts established that mechanical failures were the root cause of the accident based on conflicting test results. The Bruges court demonstrated a similar approach to the Damme case by using evidence standards to protect defendants from unjust convictions.
