A lorry driver was found guilty of homicidio imprudente (involuntary manslaughter). The incident took place in Illora and resulted in the death of a small child.

Criminal Law Court Nº6 in Granada handed down a 2-year prison sentence to J.V.S. who backed his lorry over a 5-year-old in a town park on the 13th of July 2007.

The accused man was a member of the Fiestas Committee and had used a municipal lorry to deliver tables and chairs to the Parque Federico Garcia Lorca, where celebrations were to be held. To enter the park he drove. down a clearly pedestrian street. After having unloaded a second load of material with two companions, he then proceeded to reverse back down the same pedestrian street.

At no time did he ask either of the two passengers to assist him with the manoeuvre and further more, the vehicle had no acoustic warning device to alert people to the fact that it was backing up.

“knowing that he had a very restricted field of vision and not taking any precautions” reads the court findings, at 19.45h the park already had many adults and children inside, he began the manoeuvre to reverse up a pedestrian street giving access to a park.

Several metres into the manoeuvre he heard somebody banking on the back and somebody desperately shouting, “Stop! Stop!”

It was the father of the victim, having watched helpless as the wheel went over his son, causing his terrible head injuries, leading almost immediately to his death.

(News: Illora, Poniente de Granada, Granada, Andalucia)