Monster truck driver gets 15 months on appeal for fatal accident

By Janene Pieters on May 24, 2018 - 15:00
Mario D.
Mario D., driver of the monster truck that crashed into an audience in Sept. 2014 (graphic: NL Times). (Mario D., driver of the monster truck that crashed into an audience in Sept. 2014 (graphic: NL Times))

Monster truck driver Mario D. was given an unconditional prison sentence of 15 months on appeal on Wednesday for causing an accident with his monster truck in which three people were killed and 23 were injured. D. is also banned from practicing his profession - a professional stuntman - for five years, NU.nl reports.

D. crashed his monster truck into a crowd of people during an event in Haaksbergen in 2014. The appeal court gave him the same sentence as he received when this case was first tried. 

In April 2016 D. was found guilty of death through negligence. He appealed against this ruling, saying that community service would be more appropriate because his family is too severely punished by a prison sentence, according to the newspaper. The man also claims that the fatal accident was caused by a technical defect to his truck, so the accident was not his fault.

Like in the first hearing, the court did not agree with D.'s arguments and decided to uphold the first ruling. 

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