Ski area managers found guilty over girl’s death
The manager of an Alpine skiing area in the canton of Valais and its director of security were convicted of homicide by negligence in the death of a 12-year-old girl who fell from a ski tow in February 2011.
The manager of the Evolène resort received a suspended sentence of nine months in prison, while the security chief earned a seven-month jail term, local judge Isabelle Boson told the ATS news agency on Monday, confirming an earlier media report.
The pair are planning to appeal the decision.
The girl, from Bienne in the canton of Bern, fell from the ski tow and slid 100 metres down an icy slope before slamming into a lift pylon equipped with a mattress.
She came to a rest, immobilized, a dozen metres further, according to an online account from La Nouvelliste, a Valais newspaper.
Seriously wounded, she was treated by medics on the spot before being transported by helicopter to the hospital in Sion, the capital of Valais, where she later died.
The girl was with a school group attending a ski camp at the time of the mishap, which occurred at around 11.45 on February 10th 2011.
Lawyer Jean-Claude Morisod, representing the victim’s family, said his clients were satisfied with the verdict.
“The judge followed all the points the demands of the prosecutor’s office,” Morisod is quoted as saying by La Nouvelliste.
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The manager of the Evolène resort received a suspended sentence of nine months in prison, while the security chief earned a seven-month jail term, local judge Isabelle Boson told the ATS news agency on Monday, confirming an earlier media report.
The pair are planning to appeal the decision.
The girl, from Bienne in the canton of Bern, fell from the ski tow and slid 100 metres down an icy slope before slamming into a lift pylon equipped with a mattress.
She came to a rest, immobilized, a dozen metres further, according to an online account from La Nouvelliste, a Valais newspaper.
Seriously wounded, she was treated by medics on the spot before being transported by helicopter to the hospital in Sion, the capital of Valais, where she later died.
The girl was with a school group attending a ski camp at the time of the mishap, which occurred at around 11.45 on February 10th 2011.
Lawyer Jean-Claude Morisod, representing the victim’s family, said his clients were satisfied with the verdict.
“The judge followed all the points the demands of the prosecutor’s office,” Morisod is quoted as saying by La Nouvelliste.
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