This Thursday morning, the Tournai police court delivered its judgment which is intended to be more severe than the sentences required by the public prosecutor during the October 27 hearingeven if a reprieve was granted, in part, to the 26-year-old Tournaisian, due to his lack of criminal record.
“Punish the inadmissible unconsciousness”
The young biker was sentenced to 2 years in prison, including 6 months firm, “in order to sanction the inadmissible recklessness displayed by the defendant and to dissuade him in the future from repeating similar conduct”, specifies judge Michel Pieraert. The Tournaisian is also stripped of his driving license for a period of “long duration”i.e. 4 years, with a two-year reprieve. “The deprivations and the necessary arrangements, both private and professional, that this forfeiture will imply, will contribute concretely to his sanction and to his awareness of the need to adopt road behavior that respects basic traffic rules, including that of ensuring that a appropriate speed in all circumstances to avoid endangering the safety of others.” He will have to take four exams to get his driver’s license back.
“The bodily pains will also impose the memory on him”
A fine of €8,000, half of which was suspended, was also imposed on him. “Marked by the physical and neurological consequences resulting from this accident, the bodily pains will also come to impose on him the memory of this totally irresponsible behavior and the fact of having harmed human life”also notes the president of the court.
In his pronouncement, the judge had strong words. “The defendant took the life of an innocent young adult, at the dawn of a promising and fulfilling existence, points out Michel Pieraert. He brutally and totally unpredictably tore away the ties of a family in which Cheyenne occupied a particularly appreciated and appreciable place, by plunging in a few moments all his relatives, in a pain as sudden as unbearable, and that nothing can erase. The disappearance of a loved one can never be filled. His loved ones will have to learn to overcome their grief on a daily basis by remaining tormented by a question to which they will never obtain an answer: the reason for such crazy speed…”
Projected tens of meters from the pedestrian crossing
Some details regarding the circumstances of the accident are provided. “While riding his Honda brand motorcycle towards Tournai, the defendant violently crashed into the center of the Cheyenne Novareze pedestrian crossing which crossed the roadway, recalls the president of the court. The unfortunate victim was thrown 18 meters beyond the protected passage while the defendant found himself 59 meters beyond this passage, and his motorcycle more than 110 meters away. Both will be seriously injured; the young woman died a few hours later in hospital from the consequences of her injuries.
Judge Michel Pieraert returned to the testimonies which will confirm that “The defendant was developing a speed totally unsuited to the place.” As for the expert, he specifies that “the public lighting diffused a good quality luminosity and that the accused progressed at a speed of 130 km/h, i.e. a speed 4.3 times higher than the maximum authorized speed. If he had respected the speed of 30 km/h, he might not have ignored the presence of the pedestrian who was crossing the road.As for the victim, given the speed limit of 30 km/h, and the distance at which the motorcycle was, she might expect to be able to cross the road without danger.” The accident is linked solely to the behavior of the motorcyclist and “attributable to the personal fact by lack of foresight and precaution, but without intention to attack the person of others.”
“The distressing consequence of an insane, incomprehensible, unexplained and unforgivable speed”
The President of the Court also points out that “the death is not the result of an unfortunate combination of circumstances, but the distressing consequence of an insane, incomprehensible, unexplained speed and all the more unforgivable as it is the fact of a user who knew perfectly the place and its dangerousness.
The girl’s family will receive a provisional damage of one euro. “Financial compensation that will always be derisory and insufficient to compensate for the irreversible disappearance of one of their own…” The court appointed a psychiatric expert to determine the final damage.
