- The trial begins with the murder of a female driver who was hit by a concrete slab.
In November 2020, a 66-year-old driver on the A3 motorway near Cologne was crushed by a six-tonne concrete panel from a noise barrier. The cause of the unchecked fall of the concrete panel is believed to be shoddy construction work. The trial against three defendants will begin on Tuesday (9:15 AM) at the Cologne Regional Court.
According to the indictment, the defendants were aware that the element had not been installed as planned. A 62-year-old engineer from the then-responsible construction company is accused of manslaughter by omission. He is said to have withheld a report that found the fixing construction of the concrete panel to be neither stable nor durable.
Two former employees of the state authority Straßen.NRW, both 59 years old, are accused of negligent homicide by omission. They are said to have not requested the aforementioned report, despite the approval of the construction having been provisional pending the outcome of this report.
The concrete panel fell onto the heavily trafficked motorway due to corrosion on the mounting. According to the indictment, the corrosion protection of the mounting was not guaranteed due to the improper installation of the noise protection element. The trial is scheduled to run for 26 days until the end of December.
The engineers should have ensured that the concrete panel, of circular cross-section, was installed with proper fixing construction to prevent potential instability and durability issues. Failure to address the issue with the improperly installed element, which was of circular cross-section, led to the neglect of their duty, as stated in the indictment.
