Trial in Salzburg

Passenger (19) dies, driver of death (21) repents

Dozens of firefighters on duty at the fatal traffic accident on August 6, 2022.(Bild: FF Saalfelden)

In August 2022, a novice driver lost control of his dad's Audi in heavy rain. On Thursday, at the trial in court in Salzburg, he played down his speed.

The Bosnian defendant (21) in the leather jacket answered Judge Thomas Tovilo-Moik's questions ponderously and slowly: "I'm partly guilty. But I certainly wasn't driving 120, I wasn't going that fast," he explained on Thursday in the regional court on the charge of gross negligence manslaughter. He feels guilty because someone was injured and because someone died. The fatally injured person was a friend, a 19-year-old Syrian. And the injured person was a friend of the same age.

Did you check the condition of the vehicle? Because the tires were already very slippery. They were also traveling at a minimum speed of 120 when the accident happened. The speed limit was actually 70.

Unfall-Experte Gerhard Kronreif zum Angeklagten

There were three of them in the Audi A6 on that fateful August 6, 2022, which the 19-year-old defendant had borrowed from his dad. It was around 10.30 p.m. on the B311 near Saalfelden, heavy rain. There was talk of aquaplaning at the trial.

Expert underlined excessive speed
"Do you think you made a mistake?" asks the judge. With long pauses, the blameless apprentice replies: "Yes, I should have driven less than 80." He had only had his driver's license for a few months and had not yet completed driver safety training: "I didn't know how to react to aquaplaning." The girl who was in the car at the time of the accident said as a witness: "I only saw black and then woke up in hospital." The expert witness Gerhard Kronreif made it clear that the driver was at least doing 120 km/h when the accident happened - in other words, he was going 50 km/h too fast.

Six months on probation and a fine of 5,400 euros was the non-final judgment. And the victim's lawyer Stefan Rieder was awarded 60,000 euros for the relatives.