Fine after fatal slurry tanker accident on farm
Following a tragic accident involving the death of a twelve-year-old on an adventure farm, the Bielefeld district court has sentenced a farm worker to a 90-day fine. The proceedings against the owner of the farm were discontinued in return for a fine of 6,500 euros, as the district court announced on Thursday. The charge was negligent homicide.
According to the indictment, the now 48-year-old worker had driven a tractor with a seven-ton slurry tanker trailer across the site. For reasons that are ultimately unexplained, a twelve-year-old tripped and fell under a wheel of the trailer. He died at the scene of the accident.
The accident happened in July last year around lunchtime on the farm. According to the prosecution, there were around 100 children on the farm at the time - during the NRW school vacations.
With so many children on the farm at that time, the tractor driver should never have been allowed to drive his vehicle across the grounds, said presiding judge Lars Herzog. On the other hand, he had been driving very slowly at only six kilometers per hour. His breach of duty of care was "in the lower range". The farm owner could be accused of "organizational fault", among other things because he had not sufficiently informed the tractor driver about the risks of an accident.
"What happened was a tragedy," said the chairman, "no punishment can take away the pain of the parents' loss."
The farm owner was faulted for not sufficiently informing the tractor driver about the risks of an accident, contributing to the judgments made during the trial. The final judgments included a 90-day fine for the farm worker and a fine of 6,500 euros for the farm owner, as a settlement to discontinue proceedings against them.
Source: www.dpa.com
