A 20-year prison sentence was imposed by one of the courts in Warsaw. L. Žakas will be able to request a sentence reduction only after serving 15 years, writes tvn24.pl.
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As noted by the portal gazeta.pl, this is the first such harsh sentence for causing an accident after tightening traffic rules.
L. Žakas received this sentence for an accident caused in mid-September 2024, when the “Volkswagen Arteon” he was driving crashed into a “Ford Focus” carrying a married couple with children. During the accident, the 37-year-old man, a father of children, died. His wife, who was driving the car, was severely injured – all her ribs and spine were broken, and she had to undergo several surgeries.
Both children traveling with them were also injured; at the time, they were four and eight years old.
The girl who was traveling with the accident perpetrator also ended up in the hospital.
During the investigation, it was established that the perpetrator was driving at about 220 km/h, was drunk, and was even filming his drive. After the accident, he fled the scene without providing any assistance to the injured people.
However, this is only a first-instance court verdict, and it is believed that the convicted person’s defenders will file an appeal.
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Accomplices who were detained and tried together received prison sentences ranging from two to five years for helping to hide and trying to avoid the punishment.
As the judge who announced the verdict emphasized in court, the perpetrator was tried for causing an unintentional traffic accident, which apparently raises no questions. However, the traffic rules were intentionally violated.
The judge stressed that what happened cannot be called a mistake, as the defendant’s defenders tried to prove. The young man was having fun in Warsaw with friends and later, intoxicated by alcohol, consciously got behind the wheel.
“And I wonder what one must have in mind to accelerate a ‘Arteon’ (driving a Volkswagen Arteon and causing the accident – editor’s note), which is like a small tank, up to 200 km per hour,” the judge said, telling the defendant that, in his opinion, “only such a sentence will protect society from drivers like you.”
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