FLASH
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The Court of Appeal in Perugia confirms the six-month prison sentence for the property owner. According to the court, the illegal entry of the victim does not exclude responsibility for the lack of maintenance of the abandoned well...
A court in Italy has sentenced a private property owner to six months in prison for manslaughter after an elderly man died after falling into an abandoned well on his land. The first-instance ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeal in Perugia, Italian media reported.
The incident occurred on July 30, 2018. The victim was a 77-year-old man of Albanian origin, who fell into an abandoned artesian well while collecting manna in a garden left in a degraded state.
According to the reconstruction presented to the court, the elderly man had gone for a walk. Along the way, he saw a gate to a private property that was chained shut but open enough to allow passage. Inside the abandoned garden, he noticed a bush of berries and went in to pick some.
Under the bushes, however, was the entrance to an old artesian well, open at ground level. The well had been dug by hand, was over four meters deep and about one and a half meters in diameter, with walls lined with stones. The old man fell in without noticing the empty space. Near the edge of the well, rescuers found a plastic bag with berries he had picked.
The family notified authorities after the 77-year-old did not return home. Carabinieri and firefighters launched a search and a few hours later found the body at the bottom of the well. The cause of death was determined to be violent mechanical asphyxiation from drowning.
The Perugia prosecutor's office has opened an investigation for manslaughter against two brothers who own land. According to the charges, they had violated technical regulations for the maintenance and closing of water wells. The investigation found that the abandoned well had not been filled or sealed, was not protected by a lid, was covered by vegetation and had no signage.
One of the brothers was found not guilty due to his health condition and physical inability to go to the property, while the other was convicted.
In its decision, the Court of Appeals emphasizes that the property's fence was in poor condition and easily passable, while the lack of well cover and poor maintenance of the grounds created an objective risk.
"Even if a causal contribution of the victim, who entered the property to collect manna without permission, is taken into account, this cannot justify the owner's obvious shortcomings in maintaining the property," the decision states.
The first instance court had also decided on compensation of 600 thousand euros for the victim's family.
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