Man gets 200 hours of community service for fatal speedboat accident

A 35-year-old from Koudekerke was sentenced on Friday to 200 hours of community service for a fatal speedboat accident on July 23, 2019, on the Zoutelande beach. A 15-year-old girl from Neer died as a result of the collision.

The defendant, Bastiaan F., crashed with his speedboat against an inflatable boat on which the 15-year-old was sitting together with her step-brother. The boy saw the boat approaching with high speed and was able to jump off. His sister did not manage to get off the boat in time and suffered severe injuries to her head. She later succumbed to her wounds.

F. was also sentenced for operating the speedboat while under the influence of alcohol.

The court ruled that the accident occurred due to speeding and inattentive driving. The man had been driving too fast and therefore, lost the oversight of what was happening around him in the water, the court said.

F. should have accounted for other people in the water, given that it had been extremely busy that day at the beach, according to the court. 

The man told the girl’s parents that he deeply regrets his actions. “I find this really terrible. I never wanted it to happen”, he said, according to Omroep Zeeland.

“There’s only one guilty person and that is you”, the mother of the victim said. The 15-year-old had been her only child.

The defendant also has to pay 20 thousand euros to the parents of the victim. “The man created unbelievable pain for the loved ones of the girl”, the judge said during the ruling. “The court is aware that whichever punishment they give, the loss the loved ones suffer can never be compensated.”