The Provincial Court in Palma has released the woman who caused a fatal accident in Alcudia on November 15. The 29-year-old Dutch woman lied to the Guardia Civil, claiming that the man who died, a 53-year-old friend, had been driving. The court has upheld the appeal and overturned the woman's detention order because defence lawyers were not informed of essential elements of the case.
The Inca court of instruction overseeing the case summoned the woman to appear on December 10. Her lawyer had resigned due to disagreements, and her new lawyers informed the court that they had not received essential information. "Despite this, the woman's statement was taken, even though her lawyer advised her not to testify due to a lack of information."
The judge ordered the driver's imprisonment on December 10th. At the hearing, her lawyers also argued that the facts of the charges against their client were unknown but that the judge chose not to suspend the proceedings.
In its ruling, the Provincial Court states: "It would have been necessary for the lower court to suspend the hearing to provide the lawyers with all the information essential for preparing a written defence. We can only conclude that the defendant's lawyers were unable to exercise their right to a defence."
Around 1.50am on November 15, an MG with four people collided head-on with a Hyundai Kona on the Horse Roundabout in Puerto Alcudia. 53-year-old Dutch citizen Frederik Harm, one of two people in the Hyundai, died some two and a half hours after the accident. The woman told Guardia Civil Traffic Police that Frederik Harm had been driving the Hyundai. Investigations established that she had lied. She had been driving. The vehicle entered the roundabout in the wrong direction and collided with the MG.