Child died playing on farm: Farmers convicted

2023-04-24 10:07:00

They were sentenced to four months’ imprisonment on probation for negligent homicide. The old and the young farmer made a confession. On July 18, the boy next door got caught under the grain while playing on a tractor trailer loaded with grain, fell unconscious and died in hospital. He had been visiting the farm and had played with the farmer’s son, who was a year younger, on the tipping trailer, which was loaded with a layer of grain about 60 centimeters high. The tipper was raised about 45 degrees to allow the grain to be dumped and conveyed via a tube to an auger drive.

The two children used the tipped trailer as a slide. The nine-year-old got caught in the suction at the beginning of the pipe. He blocked the outflow of the grain with his back and was subsequently buried by the following grain. When his playmate noticed the accident, he immediately sounded the alarm. The farmer dug the child free and recovered it. The emergency doctor resuscitated the boy. The nine-year-old was flown to the Salzburg University Hospital in a rescue helicopter. The child died there that night.

Defendants came without a defense attorney

In their criminal complaint, the Salzburg public prosecutor’s office accused the two accused of allowing the child to play on the tipping trailer, although according to the operating instructions this is forbidden while the trailer is in operation. The criminal complaint states specifically that the accused had allowed the nine-year-old to act as supervisors on the tipping trailer that was in operation while the grain was being unloaded. You would have acted contrary to the provisions of the general safety and accident prevention regulations in the operating instructions for the tipping trailer, “according to which, before each start-up, it must be ensured that nobody is in the vicinity (especially children) and that access during the tipping process is prohibited”. . The farmer and the pensioner would have caused the death of the nine-year-old.

The previously blameless accused had come to the trial without a defense attorney. “I took over the supervision. I plead guilty,” said the farmer. His father also confessed that there was nothing more to say, he explained.

As tragic as the accident was, “the law must be satisfied,” said the judge after the verdict. The probationary period for conditional imprisonment is three years. The verdict is not final because neither the District Attorney nor the defendants have issued a statement. Because the two men came without a defense attorney, they have three days to appeal anyway. The parents of the child who died in the accident did not join the process as private parties.