The tree fall trial in Funchal’s Monte parish, which killed 13 people and injured dozens in 2017, continues this Wednesday in a Madeira court, with defendants being heard in the process.
The first meeting took place on April 12, in the absence of the defendants – the former vice-president of the Chamber of Funchal, Idalina Perestrelo, and the responsible for the municipal gardens, Francisco Andrade – in the presence of lawyers for both, they declared in court that their constituents could testify at the upcoming meetings.
The panel of judges, chaired by Joana Diaz, scheduled for this Wednesday and Thursday, will hear two defendants and 36 witnesses.
Idalina Perestrelo and Francisco Andrade are charged with 13 negligent homicides and 24 negligent offences.
The hearing scheduled for April 12, at which the first five witnesses were to be heard, was postponed due to a bailiffs’ strike and was rescheduled for May 3.
The case began to be considered after Judge Joana Diaz decided to separate the criminal proceedings from the civil compensation case in order to avoid the problem of the statute of limitations.
On August 15, 2017, during religious ceremonies in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a feast day also known as the Day of Our Lady of Monte, Patroness of Madeira, one of the most popular holidays in the archipelago, an oak tree about 150 years old fell on a crowd waiting for the procession to pass.
The fall of the oak led to the death of 13 people (two of whom were foreign citizens of French and Hungarian nationality) and about fifty injured.
The investigation phase of the process began on October 4, 2019 behind closed doors, however was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the investigation phase, the then mayor of Funchal, Paulo Cafofo, elected by the Confiança coalition (PS, PND, MPT, PTP and PAN), was put forward as an argument, but the prosecutor’s office ultimately did not charge him, preferring archiving, because the mayor delegated authority over these spaces to other team members.
The decision was challenged by some aides in the process.