A mayor, a forain and a technical controller were sentenced Monday for their involvement to varying degrees in a ride accident that caused the death of a teenager in 2014 in Flins-sur-Seine, Yvelines, and had hurt for a second.
The mayor gets a fine. The Versailles Criminal Court sentenced the showman to two years' imprisonment, one of which was suspended and a fine of € 16,500 with a final ban on holding a carousel. The public prosecutor's office requested at the hearing on 3 December that the prison sentence be accompanied by 16 months of stay.
The technical controller was sentenced to 15 months in prison suspended and 11,500 euros in fines, with a ban on controlling fairground facilities for one year. A sentence slightly lower than what was required by the prosecution. As for the mayor of Flins, Pascal Chavigny, he was sentenced to a fine of 11,500 euros including 5,000 suspended, while six months of suspended imprisonment were required against him.
This drama "is not the result of a combination of circumstances". Joachim Bokobsa, one of the lawyers for the deceased girl's family, said she was "rather satisfied" with the convictions. "It was symbolically very important that the three people who committed negligence be condemned," he added, welcoming in particular the prohibitions to practice pronounced against the two professionals.
This drama "is not the result of a combination of circumstances" but "an addition of negligence that led ineluctably to its occurrence," said the prosecutor at the hearing.
The technical control of the carousel was no longer valid. The two girls had been ejected from the rotating "caterpillar" and one of them had hit the installation before sliding under the carousel. She had succumbed to her injuries. The investigation showed that the technical control of the carousel was no longer valid for several days and noted defects on the safety bars of cars and the speed control system of the carousel.
The owner of the attraction also showed a failure to monitor the ride in operation, which he acknowledged. The auditor of the installation, author of the last inspection in August 2013, would not have reported any anomalies on this old manège, put into service in 1965. As for the mayor, he had not asked for certain mandatory documents at owner.