Trial Indictment for intentional homicide after overtaking accident
A car driver has to answer charges of intentional homicide before the High Court of the Canton of Aargau today, Tuesday. In November 2022, the then 71-year-old caused a fatal accident in dense fog.
21.10.2025, 04:31
SDA
Last January, the District Court of Baden AG sentenced the pensioner to 5.5 years' imprisonment for intentional homicide. The court did not assume that there was direct intent to kill, but that the defendant had accepted an accident resulting in death with his driving. Accordingly, there was contingent intent.
The public prosecutor's office had demanded a prison sentence of 6.5 years for intentional homicide. The defendant had admitted that he had made a mistake and caused the accident. His defense lawyer claimed negligence and pleaded for a conditional prison sentence of 15 months.
Overtaking in dense fog
The fatal accident occurred at around midnight on November 26, 2022 on the straight out-of-town stretch between Busslingen (municipality of Remetschwil AG) and Künten AG. According to witnesses, there was dense fog. The car in front of the person who later caused the accident was therefore only driving at a speed of 30 to 40 km/h and had its rear fog light switched on.
The defendant later stated that he felt visibility was good. He started to overtake and accelerated to 75 to 81 kilometers per hour, according to the expert opinion.
He saw the oncoming motorcycle, which was traveling at 35 to 42 kilometers per hour, too late. This resulted in a head-on collision. The 19-year-old motorcyclist died at the scene of the accident. The person who caused the accident and his passenger were uninjured.
