In the framework of the trial against the driver of the bus carrying students and overturned on the Collihuanqui hill, leaving three dead, the Prosecutor’s Office reported that it is requesting 15 years in prison for the driver because his actions go beyond “mere imprudence or negligence.”
A sentence of 15 years and one day in prison is requested by the Public Ministry for the driver who was transporting students and overturned in 2019 on the Collihuanqui slope on the route that connects Victoria with Curacautín, in the La Araucanía region. The accident left three minors dead and another 32 injured to varying degrees.
The hearing regarding Benjamín Toledo Ibarra, accused, is taking place before the Temuco Criminal Trial Court by the Public Ministry as author of the Repeated crimes of simple homicide, serious and less serious injuries, for the accident that cost the lives of the schoolchildren, Yazminne Verónica Córdova Zapata, Benjamín Emanuel Álvarez Cifuentes and Marcela Vanesa Garrido Ñanco.
The Prosecutor Iván Isla specified that it was resolved to invoke the aforementioned crimes, after analyzing the background of the fact that points beyond “mere imprudence or negligence”of a professional driver, who transported students from the Perquenco Agricultural High School to the town of Malalcahuello.
Added the persecutor that appears in the accusation that prior to the fatal event, the passengers themselves warned the driver that he was moving at an unreasonable or prudent speed for the sector, despite this, the man would have ignored it, which derived in the death of three minors: two 16-year-olds and one 18-year-old.
This case also generated a summary in the National Youth Institute, including the departure of the director at that time, Stefano Ferrari, since the trip was financed by the organization and after the accident no support was provided to the victims or their families.