Prosecutors: 4-year prison term is not enough for driver who killed 2 mothers, 2 kids

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) is going to appeal the verdict in the case concerning a traffic accident in Oud Gastel, Noord-Brabant, which led to four people losing their lives. The OM had recommended an eight-year prison sentence against the 28-year-old Omar E. from Roosendaal. The court sentenced him to four years for reckless driving.

The collision happened on September 2, 2022 on the Roosendaalsebaan in Oud Gastel. The victims included a 39-year-old women, her 8-year-old son, and her 10-year-old daughter. The crash also killed another mother, who was 42. Her daughter, 9, was injured in the accident, but she survived.

E. was driving at a speed of 155 kilometers per hour just before the crash, and he rammed the victims’ Toyota at 95 kilometers per hour when it emerged from a side street. E. was on a stretch of road where the speed limit was 50 kilometers per hour. The suspect was driving on a major road, where the traffic lights were not working at the time and were flashing orange.

“Their vehicle was swept away with the force of a tank,” the prosecutor said earlier. The suspect himself and his two passengers were unharmed. The court denied the defense claim that the driver of the victims’ car was at fault for not adhering to rules regarding right-of-way. The court said other road users could not have anticipated that someone would approach at such a high speed

The District Court in Breda handed down a guilty verdict and the four-year prison sentence on April 26. The Public Prosecution Service had demanded a tougher sentence of eight years.

He caused the situation himself, the court said, but it disagreed with the prosecutor’s decision to charge E. with two separate criminal offences, specifically causing the collision that resulted in four fatalities, and causing a collision in which someone was injured. According to the court, this is unjustified under Dutch law because there was one single criminal act that resulted in one single event.

The surviving family members were very angry and upset over the punishment, saying that four years in prison is far too little, according to Omroep Brabant. Prosecutors sent the signal that they agreed when they filed the appeal this week.

“After studying the verdict, the Public Prosecution Service is asking the appeals court for its judgment. The Public Prosecution Service does not agree with the reasoning for the sentence,” the Public Prosecution Service said on Wednesday.

In addition to the prison sentence, the court imposed a 10-year driving ban against E. He was previously convicted of other traffic offences. According to the court, he seems to “not want to learn from his mistakes,” and he has not taken responsibility for the accident