Probation after tragic death – The Budapest Times

Written by Mirtill Rádonyi

The Szolnok Court has sentenced a 59-year-old man to a suspended sentence of two years, with a probation period of five years.

As a bus driver, the man transported small children from Tiszaderzs to the kindergarten in Tomajmonostora on 7 June 2022. After the journey, he parked the bus in the blazing sun with the doors and windows closed. The court accused the man of not inspecting the vehicle sufficiently and therefore not noticing that a 4-year-old girl had been left in the back. The child had to spend several hours in the unventilated vehicle in the stifling heat. Although the girl was immediately taken to hospital when she was finally discovered – already unconscious – she suffered such serious damage to her health that she died three days later.

The public prosecutor’s office of Tiszafüred brought charges in the case in April 2023. The Tiszafüred District Court handed down its judgement in January 2024 after three days of hearings. It found the man guilty of endangering life in the course of his work. He was sentenced to a suspended sentence of two years and a fine of 450,000 forints as well as a five-year ban from working in the field of passenger transport.

The public prosecutor’s office demanded that the prison sentence be enforced, while the defendant and his defence lawyer pleaded for acquittal or a reduction in the sentence imposed. The case had caused a stir, with many citizens taking to social media to defend the driver, who was held solely responsible for this tragic case. The kindergarten teachers did in fact notice that the girl was missing, but were unable to contact her mother by phone to find out why – she worked in a factory where mobile phones are banned during shift work. Nobody thought that the 4-year-old might still be on the bus.