Headline should read: Father of Victim In Via Caldera Crash Rules Out Reconciliation With Driver.
QCOSTARICA – The father of the 17 year old who died in a car crash on Good Friday on the Ruta 27, the San Jose-Caldera, says he wants to see his daughter’s killer in jail and rules out reconciling with the 22 year old driver.
Mauricio Guerrero Saavedra said the decision was taken in conjunction with the other three people who were injured in the accident.
A lawyer by profession, Guerrero said he is preparing a lawsuit against the young driver, identified by his last name Castro, to have him charged for homicide, whose punishment is from 12 to 18 years in prison.
Instead, the Ministerio Publico (prosecutor) is charing the driver with manslaughter, which is punishable from 1 to 10 years, when the driver is under the influence of alcohol.
“For us, it’s a homicide, because an individual consuming liquor and then gets behind the wheel, is breaking the rules, the vehicle is no longer a means of transport, it is a weapon. (…) He drank and then grabbed the steering wheel and decided to confront whoever. To commit murder, it is not necessary to know the victim, he chose randomly and picked my daughter Veronica,” said Guerrero.
Guerrero made his announcement Friday morning, at the same time Castro was inside the Pavas courthouse in a hearing.
In a previous hearing last week, Castro was released and without condition. The Pavas court, however, decided to impose conditions, that he surrender his driver’s license, his passport and sign in once a month, said prosecutor Hazel Mora Trejos.
Source. Nacion.com
I support the father in his quest for justice – 100%
I don’t want to sound unsympathetic to the grief that the family of the young girl killed in the crash is suffering, however, it has not yet been proven that the consumption of alcohol by the driver of the other vehicle is in-fact the cause of the crash. The Prosecutor has imposed rather lenient terms for this driver’s release pending trial, which leads me to believe that there may be other contributing circumstances of the crash yet to be disclosed to be considered. The crash investigation has to be completed to determine any and all factors to be considered.
I rarely immerse myself on this forum, but, there should be a zero (cero in Spanish) tolerance to drinking and driving. Costarick, you may be right, there may be more to the accident, but, the driver was under the influence of alcohol. Had he not been…
I personally witnessed last week, on the Sunday following the Good Friday, an accident where the drunk driver was killed in a similar head on collission. He sent three to hospital.
Talking to the transito, the accident had occurred about an hour before my arrival at the point of the accident, on the road from Limonal to the Tempisque bridge. The vehicle I was in, a minibus, experienced a tire problem, forcing it to a top speed of 40 km/h and a stop in Santa Cruz to change it. Delayed my arrival at the accident scene about an hour.
Drinking before driving, driving tired, too busy watching the latest youtube video (yes, placing a video player on the dash is acceptable in Costa Rica) and so on all add up to one simple truth, an accident waiting to happen.
Father of Victim In Via Caldera Crash Rules ***OUT*** Reconciliation With Driver
My bad, thanks for pointing out the error.