The reading of the ruling in the case of the fall of a tree in the parish of Monte, Funchal, which caused 13 deaths and dozens of injuries in 2017, takes place today, with a former vice-president of the council and the person responsible for the gardens being accused.
On August 15, 2017, during religious ceremonies in honor of the Assumption of Our Lady, a festival also known as the Day of Our Lady of Monte, the patron saint of Madeira, in one of the most popular festivals in the archipelago, an oak tree approximately 150 years fell on the crowd waiting for the procession to pass.
The fall of the oak caused 13 deaths (two of which were foreign citizens, French and Hungarian nationalities) and around fifty injured.
The investigation resulted in the constitution of the then vice-president of Funchal City Council, Idalina Perestrelo, with responsibility for the Urban Environment, Green and Public Spaces, and the then responsible for the municipality’s gardens, Francisco Andrade, as defendants.
The two are accused of committing, in material authorship, 13 crimes of negligent homicide, also responding to 24 crimes of harm to physical integrity through negligence.
During the investigation phase, the then president of the chamber, Paulo Cafôfo, elected by the Confiança coalition (PS/PND/MPT/PTP/PAN), was named a defendant, but the Public Ministry ended up not charging him, opting for archiving, because the The mayor had delegated the responsibilities of these spaces to other members of the team.
The decision was contested by some of the assistants in the process.
After several postponements, the trial began on April 12, 2023, by a panel chaired by judge Joana Dias, with a short session marked by the absence of the defendants.
During closing arguments, on January 10, the Public Prosecutor’s Office admitted that there were “divergences” among the experts heard in the trial, considering that they expressed “different” positions related to the causes behind the fall of the oak, and asked experts for an opinion.
The former vice-president of the municipality declared that “never, not even in nightmares, would anyone have predicted something like this” and that “no concrete disease was identified at the roots”, pointing out that there was, “thus, a deficient branch ”.
The reading of the ruling is scheduled for 2:15 pm at the Central Criminal Court of the Madeira District Court, in Funchal.