In spite of local finger-pointing, judges rule no-one was responsible
Almost seven years since a rotten oak tree crashed onto revellers at a religious festival in Madeira, killing 13 – from the very young to the elderly – a court has found that nobody can be blamed for the tragedy.
At the time, social and national media were full of accounts of how this had been an accident ‘pre-announced’.
Our own newspaper reported claims that “the bottom-line (…) is that this was an accident that had been waiting to happen for “at least three years”.
Social media entries described “incompetent authorities” that had been alerted to the risks posed by the tree, and other trees in the area.
Eye-witnesses talked of the 200-year-old oak having been secured to another by a steel cable, which they said posed its own dangers bearing in mind that if the tree fell, the cable could snap and cause serious damage to anyone in the way.
“If social media is to be believed, judicial police have already assured locals that arrests are in the pipeline.
“Facebook group Ocorrências na Madeira has referred to other tree falls, both this year and in the recent past.
“Appeals by the parish council for intervention go back to 2014, writes tabloid Correio da Manhã, reproducing images of letters exchanged with higher authorities to no effective avail.
“In March a massive branch fell elsewhere in the area, ‘narrowly missing’ a passer-by.
“As local man António Mendonça – hailed a hero over social media for his plain-speaking – said, it was as if the authorities were waiting for a tragedy”.
In follow up stories, Correio da Manhã spoke to relatives of those killed: The son of Ana Freitas told the paper: “The council knew these trees were dangerous. But no-one cared. Someone has to assume responsibility. There have to be guilty parties”.
Yet today, a panel of judges has come to the conclusion that there is not enough proof to prosecute the former deputy mayor of Funchal, Idalina Pereira, or the man in charge of green spaces at the time, Francisco Andrade.
The duo were the only ones among three defendants originally cited in the investigations: the other having been Paulo Cafôfô, the then mayor of Funchal, who is currently leading the regional PS Socialist party.
Cafôfô’s arguido status was dropped after he argued that he had delegated the responsibility for green space upkeep to the requisite team. Even this decision was queried by some of the people involved in this case, but there then followed the years waiting for ‘the trial’.
For now, today’s verdict means that the 13 counts of negligent homicide, as well as 24 of negligent harm to physical integrity, have been thrown out.
President of the panel of judges Joana Dias said: “Although the court is sensitive to the lives that were lost and to the suffering (…), we cannot at any cost impute the facts to the defendants or to anyone else just so that guilt does not die alone”.
Américo Dias, the representative of the victims in this tragedy, has told reporters he will be reading the judges’ decision in full, to see if there are any grounds for appeal.
