Has Justice been Served?

I wrote last week about a case that was being processed through the courts. That case has now been concluded and a verdict and sentence have been delivered. The question is whether a reasonable man would consider that the result is satisfactory.

Summary:
A man and his female partner were driving when they suddenly came upon an accident scene where a cycle had collided with a car and the rider was down. Unfortunately, unavoidably, the newly arrived driver came into contact with the rider, actually driving the front wheels over the young man. At that point the car was stopped for a few seconds, and then the driver recommenced his forward motion. A part of the young man’s clothing became interlocked with the car, but nevertheless the defendant driver drove at speed dragging the young man for two kilometres. All throughout this ordeal the victim was alive.

When the driver reached the turn into his urbanisation he stopped the car, then he moved backwards and forwards until disengaging the victim. When the attachment broke he drove over the young man and continued on home leaving the young man to his own fate. It was shortly after this that the seventeen year-old drew his last breath.

Horrified eye- witnesses and cctv cameras recorded the chain of events, but the driver and his passenger denied that they had been involved in any way.

The court deemed that the actions of the driver were as cold bloodied as can be, and his passenger was found guilty of failing to take any discernible action to stop the driver and for doing nothing to assist the victim and the law.

The driver was fined 300,000 euros and sentenced to serve 13 years in jail. His partner was sentenced to serve eighteen months behind bars.

The test of whether justice has been fully served is to put yourself into the shoes of the boy’s mother and father. It may be that youthful incaution got him into trouble in the first place, as is the case with so many young men who consider that they are indestructible at that age. Even the unavoidable act of driving over him with the front wheels might be forgiven, as that was apparently completely an accident. However, to deliberately drive off meant to pass the rear wheels over the young man. In my opinion that is the act of a monster.

I am a person who avoids doing violence to other humans, so to be able to do something like this is outside my ability to comprehend. Most people are like that, especially because that was such an inhumane act.

To further continue driving when he knew without a doubt that he was dragging a human being at speed down the motorway beggars disbelief. I consider that to be nazi-like thinking. I won’t even entertain the suggestion that he must have been mad. What must the parents make of such disrespect to their son?

He has deliberately extinguished the life of another person with very malicious intent and with complete disregard to his victim’s right to life. The Court has considered that for his actions he should spend the next 13 years of his own life behind bars. After that, he can do as he wishes, but his victim will still be dead. My feeling is that anyone who commits the sort of crime as he has been found guilty of should expect to forfeit his own quality of life until he dies. The only encouraging thing in this case is that he is 57 years old, so he might indeed die in prison. Otherwise he should be 70 upon leaving prison. At that point his British license will expire and I doubt whether anyone will reissue him, so he will never drive again. However, that is just by luck as there was no mention of the loss of his driving permit.

In my opinion Justice has not been fully served, although the courts think differently. How that can be justified I just don’t know. Additionally his partner was only sentenced to serve 18 months because she failed in her civil obligation. It doesn’t even appear that she made any attempt to stop what was happening, and she lied to authorities, so that seems to me to make her a full accessory to the fact. She should have been given the same sentence as he.

It makes you wonder what the hell's wrong with these people!

Finally, both accused are British guests in this country, and as such they have thoroughly embarrassed all reasonable thinking other British people. It’s true that we cannot be held responsible for their actions, but nonetheless, it’s hard to hold our heads high when faced by our Spanish hosts.


Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael

What Sort of Crime is This?

What Sort of Crime is This when it pushes the envelope to the Extreme?

There is a case currently before the courts that I would like to write about, but I have to be careful as the matter being sub-judice, my words might influence the justices. The essential facts being alleged are as follows: A man and his female passenger while driving came upon a young motorcyclist lying in the road after having been involved in an accident with another car. Accidentally, they drove over the man and immediately stopped. At this point, I doubt that the suspects have committed any offence. What has happened to the motorcyclist is very tragic, but I think that none of the blame for anything that has happened can be put on the suspects.

Many things take place in the course of the driving day that are peculiar. We can only avoid becoming involved in tragedies if we are vigilant and if we anticipate what could happen, so in order to try to avoid them happening. For instance, many people drive as though they are the only people using the road. That is the completely incorrect assumption, of course, so it is our responsibility to be in the correct position in the road at all times. The other thing that is in our own interests is to choose a speed at which to travel that is safe and comfortable.

Continuing with the story: our suspects are in a situation in which any driver might find himself. We have come upon a young accident victim lying in the road and we have been unable to avoid running over him. We have stopped with the young man trapped under our car. This is horrible! What should we do next? I hear you say get out of the car and give as much help as you can. That makes sense to me, and is mandated by law, especially to drivers and their passengers who are involved in an accident.

It is alleged that the suspects in this case did not do that. Instead, they drove off, dragging the man, and it had to be obvious to them that he was being dragged. It is further alleged that they drove on for two kilometres with the body still attached to their car. At the end of the two kilometres, according to an eyewitness, they turned off the main road onto a side road, and inside that side road the car was driven backwards and forwards until the body became disentangled

The suspects deny that any of these things happened involving them, but the driver is charged with murder, and his passenger is charged with failing to give assistance to the victim. It seems that eye witness reports and cctv cameras do place them where they don’t want to be placed.

So, if the facts are as the prosecution allege, I have three questions: Why? Why? And Why?

Why would a driver, finding himself in the predicament of having collided with a person in the road, and now stooped, drive off instead of getting out of his car to offer assistance?

It might be because he had no driver’s license and insurance; or was drunk; or was carrying something in his car that would cause great difficulty.



Why drive on dragging a person, who, it is alleged, had life in him?

This is the one question that no one else other than the driver can answer, if he knows. I can believe that his passenger is as horrified as I am, and judging by the body language of the photo taken of the two of them in court, (he is sitting at one end of a bench, and she is at the other), he cannot expect much help from her.

Finally, why, after dragging a man’s body for two kilometres could a person be so heartless as to drive his car backwards and forwards until the body became dislodged and then drive away? This is a statement of man’s inhumanity that makes me very uncomfortable. I know that in war times, particularly involving the nazis, some things were done that are simply impossible to believe, and I find it beyond my own comprehension that I, or anyone whom I know, could stoop so low.

So, I end this with another question: What crime has actually been committed? Prosecutors have charged this man with murder, but that seems to me to not properly reflect the gravity of the crime. No one else should feel free to do the same thing because they will be free again after serving a few years behind bars. The judge in the case, if finding the man guilty as charged, should be able to throw the whole book at him. Most importantly the family of the young man must gain the satisfaction of believing that justice has been properly served.

I have a son about his age who rides a motorcycle. Were I in the shoes of that most unfortunate family, it would take a whole lot more than the standard sentence for murder to convince me that justice was well and truly done. Of that you can be sure!

Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael

Summer Driving

Where is Everybody?

There is that time of year when so many people leave the city and their jobs and head out to parts unknown, leaving the cityscape and the immediate surroundings blissfully quiet. When school is out the tension and contest for road space is immediately relieved, and I find myself giving a huge sigh of relief. That’s when you know Summer is here.

Driving along the motorway is uncrowded and I can change lanes as many times as I wish, and I don’t even need to indicate. There is simply no one else around to whom to advise of my wishes. It’s a sort of disturbing feeling being all-alone on stretches of road where ordinarily I would be surrounded. It’s as though everybody went away and I didn’t get the memo.

So I urge the rest of my fellow home-aloners to enjoy the feeling because it won’t last.

Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael

Eight into Two Can’t Go

As part of my daily driving experience I often find that the big road that I’m on becomes a much smaller road as we drop lanes as we go. I have also noticed several places where as many as eight lanes have to rapidily squeeze into two lanes, and then down to one lane. There are a few places around Valencia where for sheer entertainment you could go and watch the action at these spots.

I’m not talking about Formula 1, this is everyday driving I’m talking about. You really have to be on your toes because things change quickly. The newspaper recently reported on the completion of a tunnel for a major exit from the city of Valencia that has taken years to complete. At its opening we now find that what these folks have been doing all this time is the following:

They have built a four-lane highway underground to channel traffic out of the city heading north. However, just as the traffic exits the tunnel three of those lanes come to an abrupt halt. To make matters worse there are no markings warning motorists that they will have to merge to the left. Meanwhile, traffic above ground have another four lanes on the right, three of which will merge with the four coming out from the tunnel. Confused? What a nightmare this is!

We assume, wrongly it seems, that designers of our motorways know what they are doing. We should have gotten wise by now with some of the things that they have given us to contend with.

I will make it a point to give this area a wide berth. I don’t need to fall in with the unfortunates who find themselves in that mess.

What’s the name of this place? I really don’t know, except the word “Folly” should be part of it.

Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael