Tragic incident

Farmer convicted of involuntary manslaughter

Special care must always be taken when carrying out agricultural work with tractors and other heavy equipment.

(Bild: Pressefoto Scharinger/Daniel Scharinger)

A 31-year-old farmer lost sight of his 81-year-old neighbor while working with hay in Kirchberg/Donau (Upper Austria), unintentionally knocked him to the ground and ran him over with a tractor. He was therefore convicted of involuntary manslaughter at Rohrbach District Court - the sentence was accordingly lenient.

The terrible incident took place on August 10 of the previous year in a meadow in Kirchberg ob der Donau: A 31-year-old farmer was working on hay in a meadow belonging to his neighbor Josef G. (81). The Mühlviertel native was working with his father's tractor and loader wagon. He was loading the mown grass that had been dried by the sun. The 81-year-old wanted to help him, but was only on foot and carrying a wooden rake.

Suddenly no longer to be seen
Apparently, the farmer had the pensioner in his field of vision to the side most of the time. But when he drove to the next row of hay at around 10.50 a.m., he suddenly no longer saw him. Then came the terrible discovery: the 81-year-old was lying motionless in the meadow.

Overlooked and knocked to the ground
As could be reconstructed later, he had probably overlooked the owner of the land when reversing, knocked him to the ground and rolled over him in the chest area with the loader wagon. The driver jumped off the tractor in horror and raised the alarm via an emergency call.

Only death could be determined
Paramedics and an emergency doctor quickly arrived at the scene. But all efforts to resuscitate Josef G. failed. His death was finally officially confirmed at around 11.38 am. The crew of the ÖAMTC emergency helicopter "Europa 3", which was ordered to the scene of the accident, had to fly back without a patient. The tractor driver suffered a shock and was cared for by the crisis intervention team, as was his widow (72).

There were no diversionary requirements in this case. Such a ruling is extremely rare in cases of death.

Walter Eichinger, Vizepräsident und Sprecher des Landesgerichts Linz

No diversion
The accident also has legal consequences for the 31-year-old: The public prosecutor's office issued a criminal complaint for involuntary manslaughter. The farmer recently had to answer for this at the district court in Rohrbach, and diversion was out of the question. "In principle, there is no diversionary settlement in cases of death. Unless the personal involvement of close relatives is such a severe psychological burden that punishment is not additionally required," says Walter Eichinger, spokesman for the Linz Regional Court.

Fine
Mitigating factors for the 31-year-old were his admission of guilt, his good character and the fact that the victim was found to be partially at fault. The judge finally sentenced the tractor driver to pay 480 euros (240 unconditionally). He accepted the fine immediately - legally binding.