Stephane Burgatt (in Marseilles)
Were the level crossing barriers raised or lowered? This is the central question of the trial which opened on Monday before the Marseille criminal court. On December 14, 2017, a school bus was violently hit by a regional train which cut it in half. The toll is heavy, with six schoolchildren killed and 17 others injured.
The vagueness continues at the trial of the bus accident which occurred in Millas, near Perpignan, on December 14, 2017. The former school bus driver, prosecuted for manslaughter, maintains her version of the facts at the bar. His answers are short, his voice plaintive. Before collapsing in tears, Nadine Oliveira assures that at the level crossing, the barriers were indeed lifted, without any visual or audible signal.
“I don’t want a specific culprit”
The parents of the victims in search of truth, like Fabien Bourgeonnier, are disappointed. “I don’t want to hear her cry. It’s me who’s been crying for five years. It’s my wife who’s been crying for five years. I don’t care if she cries. Me, what I want, these are concrete things”, launches this father, who only claims the truth. “I don’t want a specific culprit, I want someone to explain to me what happened so that I can work on it, so that it doesn’t happen again.
Two testimonies undermine the version of Nadine Oliveira
Two witnesses present on the other side of the level crossing that day once again contradicted Nadine Oliveira’s version. According to them, the bus moved slowly and pushed the security barrier. The driver didn’t realize anything. The hearings continue on Tuesday with in particular the testimonies of certain teenagers, passengers of the coach, who wish to speak at the bar.