Prosecutor demands almost six years in prison after speeding accident
Following a fatal speeding accident across a furniture store parking lot, the public prosecutor's office has demanded five years and nine months in prison for the driver. The lawyers for the co-plaintiffs in the case before the Augsburg Regional Court consider the sentence to be too low, demanding up to six years and nine months in prison. The defense lawyer was also due to make his plea on Wednesday and the verdict is scheduled for this Thursday.
The accused in the trial is a 55-year-old car mechanic who, according to the indictment, raced through Augsburg at speeds of up to 145 km/h in a two-and-a-half-ton SUV. The speed limit was 50 km/h. The man lost control of his car on a bend.
The vehicle then left the road and skidded across the adjacent parking lot of the furniture store. There, the 557 hp car crashed into a shopping cart stand. The 21-year-old female passenger of the speeding driver died, the two passengers in the back seat were injured. In the parking lot, two female customers of the furniture store were just able to run away from the car and thus remained physically unharmed.
At the beginning of the trial in October, the defendant confessed. Another speeding incident is also the subject of the trial, but this did not result in an accident. The defendant faces up to ten years in prison for an illegal motor vehicle race resulting in death.
In light of this incident, traffic authorities in Swabia have launched an investigation into whether the defendant has a history of reckless driving behaviors. Furthermore, the prosecutor has also indicated that excessive speed is a pervasive issue in many crash-related crimes, urging stricter enforcement of speed limits in the region.
Source: www.dpa.com
