In Khmelnytskyi region, the appellate court upheld the verdict in the traffic accident case in which an 82-year-old pedestrian died

The Khmelnytskyi appellate court upheld the verdict of the court of first instance against the perpetrator of the road traffic accident, as a result of which an 82-year-old resident of Kamianets-Podilskyi died. This was reported by the Khmelnytskyi appellate court.

The accident occurred on September 28, 2022, in Kamianets-Podilskyi. The driver of a Volkswagen Golf did not notice a woman crossing the roadway on Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred Street, pushing a cart behind her, and hit her with the left mirror. From the impact, the pedestrian lost her balance, tripped over the cart, and fell onto the asphalt. A few days later, she died in the hospital from a severe head injury.

The Kamianets-Podilskyi City District Court of Khmelnytskyi region found the driver guilty of violating traffic safety rules that caused the victim's death and sentenced him to 3 years of imprisonment with deprivation of the right to drive vehicles for the same period. The court also awarded a total of 922 thousand UAH in moral damages to two victims.

In the appeal, the defendant requested to overturn the verdict and close the criminal proceedings due to the absence of a criminal offense in his actions. He cited lack of proven guilt, improper evaluation of evidence by the court, and significant violations of criminal procedural law.

The victim's representative also appealed the verdict, requesting to increase the punishment for the perpetrator to 8 years of imprisonment. In his opinion, the court of first instance did not take into account the severity of the crime, the consequences in the form of the victim's death, and the defendant's attitude towards the committed act.

Following the appellate review, the panel of judges rejected both appeals and left the verdict unchanged.

The appellate court, in particular, found the defendant's arguments that the court of first instance improperly assessed the expert conclusions and explanations unfounded. The panel noted that according to the expert examinations, the driver had the technical ability to avoid the collision by timely braking, i.e., by properly complying with clause 12.3 of the Traffic Rules of Ukraine.

The panel agreed with the punishment imposed within the minimum limits of the sanctions of part 2 of article 286 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. It noted that the court of first instance considered the defendant's advanced age, absence of prior convictions, his attitude towards the committed act, the consequences of the accident in the form of the pedestrian's death, and the fact that she also violated traffic rules.

The appellate court found the victim's representative's argument that the crime committed against an elderly person should be considered an aggravating circumstance to be unfounded:

"The defendant committed a criminal offense under part 2 of article 286 of the Criminal Code, characterized by the mandatory legal feature of negligence. Under these circumstances, the death of an elderly person as a result of the accident was not and could not have been intended by the defendant, therefore there are no legal grounds to consider the circumstance aggravating the punishment under clause 6 of part 1 of article 67 of the Criminal Code."

The full text of the appellate court's ruling in case No. 676/1452/23 will be available in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions.

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