The main hearing in the case of the tragic traffic accident from February 2023 on Gorké Street, in which three people died, continued on Friday at the Košice City Court with the hearing of two experts. According to Jiří Hovorka, a Czech expert in the field of neurology, the driver had an epileptic seizure at the time of the accident. The second expert in the field of neurosurgery, Tomáš Andráš, did not rule out the possibility of a seizure, but called it unlikely.
- The main trial dealt with the cause of the tragic accident with three victims.
- One expert confirmed that the driver had an epileptic seizure during the accident.
- The second expert did not rule out a seizure, but considers it unlikely.
- The defendant denies guilt and claims that he was not conscious at the time of the accident.
- The next hearing in the case is scheduled for April.
In the case, Ivan M. is accused of the offense of general endangerment in conjunction with the offense of bodily harm, who denies the guilt. At the beginning of the hearing, he pointed out that he is being treated for epilepsy and at the time of the accident he was having an epileptic seizure, while he was not conscious. He expressed regret over the tragic event.
“I’m sure it was an epileptic fit,” said Hovorka, who works as an epilepsy specialist, before the court. He encountered similar cases during his work in the Czech Republic. He stated that the seizure with impaired consciousness that caused the accident was of a different type than the one for which the defendant Ivan M. was being treated. It was also based on a specialized examination at the epilepsy center in Brno, which the defendant underwent after the accident. “That examination is fundamental because it established the cause of the defendant’s disturbance of consciousness during the traffic accident, which was described as an epileptic seizure of the FIAS type,” said the Czech epileptologist. According to him, the findings of the examination in Brno are consistent with the clinical and technical data from the course of the traffic accident and the defendant’s behavior after it. He stated that the seizure occurred suddenly and unexpectedly. According to him, the defendant had a well-indicated medicine, but his doses were being reduced as part of the treatment.
The second forensic expert, Andráš, pointed out that the defendant’s driving characteristics at the time of the accident testify against overcoming an epileptic seizure of the type for which he was treated and which he also had later at the police station. “These types of epileptic seizures are associated with tonic-clonic convulsions and not a one-time rigidity,” he said. When asked whether he ruled out the possibility that the defendant had experienced another relevant type of seizure, he replied: “I’m not ruling it out, but it’s highly unlikely.” In connection with the disagreement at the end of both assessments, he confirmed that he considers the knowledge of his Czech colleague in the field of epileptology to be highly professional.
Defendant’s lawyer Sergej Romža spoke to the media about the hearing of experts. “In my opinion, the results of today’s expert evidence, including the questioning of experts at the main hearing, quite clearly confirmed the version that the defense has been working with since the beginning of the criminal prosecution, that is, that my client had an epileptic seizure at the time of the traffic accident,” stated. The main hearing will continue in April.
The defendant Ivan M. from Košice in the case on February 10, 2023 around 10:34 a.m. was the driver of a BMW X5 car, which he drove into the oncoming part of the road at high speed. He crashed into a Škoda Fabia, while the BMW car began to spin uncontrollably. At that time, three female pedestrians were walking on the crosswalk. The 64-year-old Škoda driver and two female pedestrians aged 59 and 67 lost their lives in the accident.
