22-Year-Old Kaprijke Man Acquitted in Natiënlaan Crash in Damme

Damme (Eurotoday) – A 22-year-old man from Kaprijke was acquitted in January in connection with a fatal road accident that took place on Natiënlaan in Damme. The crash resulted in the immediate death of one passenger and the later death of another, nine months after the incident.

As reported by VRT, the young man was cleared of all charges due to insufficient evidence. The accident, which occurred on June 18, 2023, involved a high-speed collision that split the vehicle in two after it struck a lamppost. A 17-year-old rear-seat passenger died at the scene, while another critically injured occupant succumbed to their injuries months later.

The young man and his legal counsel consistently maintained that he was not driving the vehicle at the time of the crash. The Bruges Maritime Court ultimately acquitted him, citing a lack of evidence to support his responsibility in the incident.

According to the investigation, the vehicle, carrying four Ukrainian nationals, was traveling at 130 km/h in a zone with a 90 km/h speed limit. For an unexplained reason, the driver reportedly pulled the handbrake, causing the car to lose control and crash into a lamppost. The impact was so severe that the vehicle tore into two pieces.

The 17-year-old in the rear seat died on the spot, while the driver and front-seat passenger suffered serious injuries. A fourth occupant sustained minor injuries. One of the severely injured victims later passed away in the hospital.

Are there similar traffic cases in the region?

Comparable traffic incidents resulting in legal acquittals are rare in Belgium, where the Damme incident took place. However, a similar case was documented in Malta in 2017, in which a young man was cleared after a crash that led to the death of his sister. In that case, as in the Damme trial, the court ruled that reasonable doubt existed due to the possibility of mechanical failure contributing to the accident.

In the Maltese case, defence experts presented conflicting test results suggesting that technical issues were responsible for the crash. The court ultimately determined that the available evidence did not meet the threshold for a conviction. The Bruges court applied a similar principle in the Damme case, prioritizing the presumption of innocence when faced with inconclusive evidence.