In August 2009, two teenage girls died in a California car accident while on vacation: ten years later, the organizer of the trip and a facilitator were sentenced on Wednesday for manslaughter.
The Nanterre Criminal Court "found that the accident had its main cause in the falling asleep" of the host who was driving and that he "was largely related to the bad conditions of organization of this trip," said the president Wednesday. Orane, 15, and Léa, 17, had died after leaving the minivan carrying them. Four teenagers, as well as the driver, were also injured in the accident, which occurred in the Valley of Death.
The former president of the organizing company, Cousins d'Amérique (renamed since Cousins), was sentenced to 1 year suspended sentence and the company itself to a fine of 150,000 euros for homicide and unintentional injuries.
The facilitator was sentenced to 18 months of suspended imprisonment and a suspension of 3 years, with the prohibition to practice in summer camps.
Several thousand euros in damages
The association that bears the names of the victims, as well as the other teenagers who participated in the stay, were also awarded several thousand euros in damages. "They are dead, we will not be returned, but we drew the alarm," reacted Nathalie Baldaccini, Lea's mother, after the decision. "It took us 10 years but as a mother I am proud to have been heard and I will rely on this court decision to change the regulation of these stays for minors," she said.
The court partly followed the public prosecutor who had requested, at the hearing of June 25, 30 months suspended against the instructor, one year suspended against the former president and 205,000 euros fine against the company, these the last two being also prosecuted for deceptive marketing practices. "The impression that emerges from this file is that of almost," had fired the prosecutor, saying that the company was motivated by the "greed". "Of course, it would have been necessary to cancel this trip" when the director initially recruited had disdained, 48 hours before the departure, had launched the magistrate.
The host has always denied falling asleep at the wheel
The lawyer Cousins and his former president said Wednesday reserve the possibility of appeal. "It is a decision that is based more on the emotional than the law," said Benedict Chabert, referring to the responsibility of the director of stay, not pursued in this case.
The host has always fiercely denied falling asleep at the wheel, claiming to have hit an obstacle. His lawyer had lambasted at the hearing an American investigation without autopsy, counter-expertise or hearing of his client in the presence of a lawyer.