"We are the living dead": in the words of their lawyer, the parents of a teenager seriously injured in the collision between a school bus and a train in Millas (Pyrénées-Orientales) in 2017 described Tuesday in Marseille the changeover in an irretrievably broken life.
"I am here to lay before you the pain" of this young girl, who suffers from "indelible scars that will accompany her throughout her life", pleaded master Hélène Castello-Picard, stressing that her client, amputated of the right leg as a result of the accident, was a "victim already sentenced to life".
Barriers closed
“On December 14, 2017 at 4:07 p.m.”, her life “will brutally change into horror”, she added, stressing that the teenager, then aged 13, was also, by virtue of her privileged position in the first row of the bus, "an essential witness".
The driver, Nadine Oliveira, 53, is the only defendant in this trial.
Tried for homicide and involuntary injuries, she has been absent from the hearings since September 22 following her hospitalization.
Six children died in the accident at a level crossing, 17 others were injured, eight of them seriously.
"On the fact that the barriers were closed, it is out of the question to question his testimony, quite simply because other witnesses said the same thing", insisted the lawyer, before adding: "For for me it is clear, neat, precise”.
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Road accident
Accident in Millas
Accident
Court case
Justice
Drama