A day after fainting during the trial, the defendant was taken to hospital.
The driver of a school bus, tried since Monday September 19 in Marseille for the fatal collision with a train in 2017 in Millas (Pyrénées-Orientales), was hospitalized in cardiology after having cracked at the hearing Thursday, a-t- we learned Friday, September 23 from one of his lawyers.
“She is in cardiology (…) Under the effect of an intense emotion, the heart had a failure“, told AFP Me Jean Codognès without being able to specify whether or not his client could attend the resumption of the trial on Monday, which is supposed to last until October 7. She is due for exams on Friday.
‘Tough week’
Thursday, Nadine Oliveira, 53, collapsed after trying for the umpteenth time to explain what she had or had not seen before the collision with the train which claimed the lives of six schoolchildren and injured 17 others some of them very seriously. She had returned to the scene after the accident but could not answer exactly what had happened at the level crossing: “When I look up I see the seats“, evoking the violence of the shock in which the bus was cut in two and the occupants and seats projected outside.
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After collapsing in tears, she will finally be evacuated by the marine firefighters. Faced with this situation, the president of the criminal court Céline Ballerini suspended the hearing until Monday after “a tough weekduring which the defendant, who says she was destroyed by the accident, faced the pain and expectations of families who want to understand. More than 120 civil parties have joined in this case.
“Black hole”
The prospect of a possible resumption of the debates without the defendant worries them, as expressed by Fabien Bourgeonnier, father of a teenager who died in the tragedy, in a press release sent to AFP on Friday. He points out that he went to the “trial with dignity, without shouting or insults, just to know the truth“. He wonders about this discomfort that has arisenafter questions“undermining the defendant and answers”risky” who “push it to its last limits“. And if she was not in a condition to come back on Monday, howreceive the answers to which we are victims?“, he asked in this text.
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The defendant assures that the level crossing barriers were open and maintains this version despite the expert reports and certain testimonies, in particular that of a young girl sitting just behind her in the bus, which contradict her. She also speaks of ablack holeat the time of the accident. “Always ask him the same questions that make him relive a traumatic moment which is the accident, I also find that it is violence“, had noted Me Codognès Thursday at the exit of the court.
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