The driver of the van that ran over and killed Giacomo Torrieri, originally from Mosciano S.Angelo, but resident for years in Altavilla Vicentina, in Vicenza in December 2022, was sentenced to one year and two months.
At the outcome of the preliminary hearing held yesterday, in the Court of Vicenza, before the Gup Dr. Antonella Crea, Victor Ayawvi Awuah, 43 years old, of Ghanaian origins, agreed to a sentence of one year and two months, with conditional suspension but resident in Thiene, the driver of the van accused and now also condemned for having hit, run over and killed, with an unfortunate veer off the road, the innocent Giacomo Torrieri, 63 years old, from Altavilla Vicentina, while, riding his bicycle, he returned home from work by pedaling his way and regularly on the side platform: the tragic accident happened on 10 December 2022 in Viale della Scienza, in Vicenza. The accused, who was able to benefit from the sentence discounts provided by the alternative procedure chosen, was also imposed the additional sanction of suspension of his driving license for one year and four months. The accident, reported to the local police of Vicenza, was then reconstructed in detail by the engineer. Claudio Coral, to whom the Public Prosecutor of the Berica Prosecutor’s Office, holder of the related criminal proceedings for road homicide, Dr. Cristina Carunchio, who immediately entered the investor in the register of suspects, entrusted the task of drawing up a technical consultancy kinematics to ascertain dynamics, causes and responsibilities: Eng. also participated in the expert operations as a party technical consultant. Pierluigi Zamuner made available by Studio3A-Valore SpA, a company specialized at national level in compensation for damages and the protection of citizens’ rights to which, through the Area Manager for Vicenza and Veneto Alessio Rossato, the victim’s wife has entrusted , also on behalf of their two daughters who are still minors, to be assisted, shed full light on the facts and obtain justice. It emerged that the accused, driving a Renault Trafic, was traveling along Viale della Scienza in a west-east direction, towards the center of Vicenza, at 4.55pm:
“At a speed of at least 108 km/h” wrote the magistrate in his request for committal to trial, highlighted against the accused at the end of the preliminary investigations, on the basis of the calculations carried out by the engineer. Coral, who in the report noted that the driver of the lorry was driving his vehicle “at a speed more than double the maximum speed imposed on that 50 km stretch of road”. Due to the pace being too fast, also due to the weather conditions, the asphalt was slippery from the rain. Having reached the beginning of a curvilinear section, the forty-three-year-old tackled the curve, continues Dr. Carunchio’s statement, “he lost control of the vehicle, veering to the right, drifting transversely and, after traveling 26 meters (in which he also tore away guardrails and signs, ed.), he was going to collide (drawing it from behind) with the bicycle driven by Torrieri, which was passing with a similar direction onto the right platform, thus causing his death”. Following the terrible impact, the 63-year-old suffered very serious multiple traumas that left him with no escape and he died instantly. His conduct, the technical consultant points out, “is in no way reprehensible in terms of liability emerging from specific violations of the highway code. It is not possible to detect incompetence, imprudence and/or negligence on the part of the cyclist, no behaviors otherwise required on his part emerge which could have diversified the event or avoided its occurrence, remaining solely linked to a loss of dynamic control of the truck conducted by the suspect”
Torrieri didn’t even have the chance to realize anything. Hence the request for trial for Awuah to whom the Prosecutor charged
“To have negligently caused the death of Torrieri, with violation of the rules on road traffic regulation, consisting of the violation of articles 141 and 142 of the Highway Code, by virtue of which the driver must regulate the speed (…), in particular on sections of road with limited speed, on curves, near intersections, at night, in cases of insufficient visibility due to atmospheric conditions or other causes, when crossing inhabited centres; cannot exceed the speed limit, which in this specific case was 50 km/h, and must also guarantee conditions of maximum efficiency of the vehicle, such as to guarantee safety with regards to tires and equivalent systems, braking and signaling devices visual and lighting”: if the already serious infringements committed were not enough, the technical consultancy also revealed that the van “was fitted with highly worn tyres, due to the conditions of irregular wear and their age”.
We therefore arrived at the preliminary hearing on Tuesday in which the accused, faced with his serious and overwhelming responsibilities, decided to plea bargain for a sentence of one year and two months.
Native of Mosciano Sant’Angelo (Teramo) and moved to Vicenza in the 1980s, Torrieri had attended hotel school and had always worked as a waiter for well-known establishments in the area, such as the Hotel Michelangelo, Le Delizie, la Vecchia Guardia and the Papaya of Altavilla Vicentina, making himself appreciated for his professionalism, courtesy and availability both by owners and colleagues and by customers. That day, after leaving his shift at Papaya at 3pm and running some errands, he was returning home on the bike he usually used to go to work and get around the city. Unfortunately, he never got there. Studio3A had already obtained full compensation for the victim’s wife and daughters from the van’s insurance company some time ago, but they also expected a conviction for the person responsible for the tragedy that took their husband and father away from them, despite the knowledge that no punishment would ever be commensurate with the unbridgeable loss suffered. A response from criminal justice which has now arrived, although very partial.
