The accident that claimed the life of the defendant’s uncle, who was hired for the project, occurred during the reconstruction of a large stone wall on a farm in the municipality of Tábua in January 2020.
The 50-year-old contractor from Oliveira do Hospital was responsible for the subcontract and hired his uncle, for a payment of 500 euros, to help reposition and secure the stones that had fallen from the wall, along with another unidentifed worker, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the indictment seen by Lusa agency.
The defendant operated an excavator, using the arm to lift the fallen stones, while his uncle and the other worker attached the stones to the articulated arm with chains.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) stated that for this work, the defendant did not provide helmets, vests, or gloves to the workers.
On January 29, during the work, the defendant accidentally struck his uncle’s head with the arm of the excavator. As the uncle was not wearing a protective helmet, he suffered a head fracture, started bleeding, and “showed signs of motor and cognitive impairment, becoming unable to stand, move without assistance, or communicate coherently, suggesting to onlookers that he may have suffered serious cranial injuries and was therefore at risk of life,” said the MP.
Despite this, the indictment highlighted that the defendant, instead of calling emergency services, transported the victim to the Oliveira do Hospital Health Center in the cargo bed of his truck, “knowing that by doing so, he could aggravate the injuries and increase the risk of permanent damages or even death”.
Upon arrival at the health center, the defendant’s uncle was attended by a doctor who immediately called an ambulance to transport the victim to the Coimbra University Hospitals.
Despite surgical intervention and medical treatments, the defendant’s uncle passed away on February 1 at the hospital.
On February 29, when questioned by a GNR officer about the suspicion that his uncle had been a victim of a hit-and-run, the defendant claimed he transported his uncle after seeing him struggling to walk along a path near his house and had said he fell from a wall.
By providing “false information” to the GNR officer, the defendant “did so with the intention of avoiding the criminal, civil, and administrative liability arising from the fact his uncle was working for him when struck by the excavator arm,” the MP accused, recalling that the contractor did not supply a helmet or contract insurance.
The indictment claims that the defendant chose not to tell the truth to avoid “the resulting criminal, administrative, and labor proceedings, which only did not occur because an anonymous person reported him to the Judiciary Police, allowing the criminal inquiry to begin”.
The 50-year-old defendant will be tried for violating safety regulations, failure to provide assistance, and making false statements.
