The man had been sentenced for a hit and run incident in June 2016 in which he had been driving under the influence. With a blood alcohol content (BAC) content of 1.8 per mille, the man was driving towards the motorway by the Raemerech roundabout and hit a 24-year-old pedestrian. The pedestrian later died from his injuries. The defendant stopped briefly, but then drove off. Several hours later, he handed himself in to the police.
Initially, the defendant was sentenced to a 15-month suspended prison sentence, a €2,500 fine, €60,000 in damages, and a six year driving ban with three years forming a suspended sentence. The verdict at the end of the second trial was slightly more lenient, involving changes to the driving ban and amount owed in damages.
The man now has to pay the civil party €52,000 in damages rather than €60,000. Additionally, his driving ban now involves four and a half years of a suspended sentence. The driver will have to commute to work for a year and a half, rather than the three years passed down.
