Opolskie

3rd February 2012

The Regional Court in Brzeg will have to retry the case of Daniel K., who stands accused of causing death by careless driving. A judge in Opole Regional Court this Tuesday sided with prosecutors in their appeal that there were too many uncertainties surrounding the original acquittal.

The case involves the death of a 17-year-old who was run over by Daniel K. late one night in December 2009. Prosecutors claim Daniel K. was driving without due care and attention and driving too fast for the prevailing conditions - at about 50-60kmh. Had he been driving more slowly, they claim, he would have noticed the victim lying in the road and been able to stop in time.

Daniel K.’s defence is that the victim was drunk, lying in the road, motionless, having been involved in a fight. The victim was wearing dark clothes and lying in the only part of the road that was not lit by street lamps. It is also unclear whether the victim was actually killed by being run over, or by the injuries he sustained during the fight.

Daniel K. also asked during the original trial exactly how slowly he would have to have been driving not to kill the victim. Now, the Brzeg court will have to look at all the facts in the case once again, and try to resolve some of these questions.

Give us a lift!

An elderly woman narrowly escaped death when visiting relatives when the lift in the tower block set off without her at 8am this Monday. Even so, the woman was taken to hospital suffering from shock and a broken collar bone.

The full circumstances are not yet clear, but it appears the lift was being repaired as a fault had already been reported. However, the emergency blockade was not applied while the maintenance man was working on it. As the elderly lady attempted to board the lift, it was called to another floor - setting off without her. She managed to get out of the cabin, but was hurt in the process.

Lidia Kenar, from the building’s administrator, the Poranek cooperative, commented, “We were informed of the broken lift at 7.30am, so we called the maintenance company in. As far as I know, the engineer was in the block and was about to check the lift when the accident occurred.”