Convicted for the fatal accident of a school bus at a level crossing in Millas (Pyrénées-Orientales) in 2017, the driver does not intend to change her position: at her appeal trial, which opens at 2:00 p.m., at Aix-en-Provence, she should maintain that she did not hit the barriers.
“For her, and I think we will demonstrate it, the barriers were lifted”explained his lawyer, Me Jean Codognes, to AFP.
Judged responsible for this tragedy, in which six college students lost their lives, Nadine Oliveira was sentenced to five years in prison, four of which were suspended, for homicide and involuntary injuries, in November 2022, in Marseille.
Seventeen children were also injured, eight of them seriously, in this collision with a TER so violent that it cut the bus in two.
But Ms. Oliveira immediately appealed and, barring any surprises, she should therefore not change her line of defense: for her, the level crossing was open when she tried to cross it with her bus.
An employee of a towing service and a gendarme walk near the school bus hit by a TER, on December 15, 2017 in Millas (Pyrénées-Orientales) / RAYMOND ROIG / AFP
Before the tragedy, Nadine Oliveira had used this N.25 level crossing almost 400 times and she had never seen it closed. “If the barriers had been lowered, she obviously would never have crossed this level crossing”insisted Me Codognès to AFP.
The question of whether or not the driver had forced the barrier of the level crossing, by bringing a group of 23 teenagers towards the town of Saint-Feliù-d’Avall, in the Perpignan region, had been at the heart of the debates of the trial at first instance.
“She is combative”
But several testimonies, notably those of the TER drivers, but also of a child sitting at the front of the bus, had converged to describe the closed barrier.
Very affected, in tears every time she had to return to this journey on December 14, 2017, Nadine Oliveira was hospitalized on the fourth day of the hearing and no longer attended the rest of the debates.
This time, explained Me Codognes, “she is on medication, but she is combative” and she should attend the debates scheduled until November 25, debates which will be broadcast live at the Perpignan judicial court.
The trial at first instance was held in Marseille, several hundred kilometers from the scene of the tragedy, because the Marseille city is the only city besides Paris to host a center specializing in collective accidents.
One certainty: this immutable line of defense of the driver, which “maintains in a form of denial”is a disappointment for the parents of Teddy, one of the children who died in the accident, their counsel, Me Eric Moutet, explained to AFP.
“The first trial allowed us to move forward on a lot of things, and they came away relieved. But they don’t expect much from the appeal trial”he remarks: “What is important, I think, is if this time she will be able to take on the trial, to be there”.
Me Vanessa Brandone, who represents the family of Loïc Bourgeonnier, who also died in the accident, also testified to the AFP about the weariness of her clients: “They just want it to end”.