A couple of tourists have experienced the catastrophic scenario of any custodial parent. It was a Sunday in August 2013 in Veysonnaz (VS), a station in the heights of Sion. The man – a Frenchman of Senegalese origin then 44 years old – had proposed to his sister (domiciled just like him in the Paris suburbs) that his 9-year-old niece spent two weeks on vacation with his wife and four daughters. The day after their arrival, the family went to the indoor pool, and it was a tragedy: while the little girl was in the main pool – 19 m long and 10 m wide – with three of her cousins (including 12 year old), the child drowned without anyone noticing anything, until a swimmer sees a dark shape at the bottom of the water …
Two years ago, a district court judge convicted the young victim’s uncle and aunt, as well as the only lifeguard (a Dutch sixty-something man) and his manager – who is now 59 years old. – a suspended monetary penalty with immediate fines ranging from a few hundred francs to 1,000 fr. All were convicted of negligent homicide. The 40-something couple did not object (the girl was not wearing muffs, although her mother warned them that she could not swim in deep waters). Unlike the two employees of the company managing both the swimming pool and the ski lifts, as well as other tourist activities in Veysonnaz. The appellants protested their innocence this Monday before the Cantonal Court.
In particular the lifeguard; the administrative and financial director having hardly been questioned. He will just reiterate, “even if it is useless”, his thoughts about the bereaved family. And to confirm that no new surveillance measures have been adopted since the tragedy, even though a single man – in this case the Dutch – is responsible not only for ensuring security around the basin, but also for ” cash entries at the reception counter located at 1.50 m, or even bring drinks to swimmers who order it.
A minimal organization that the lifeguard had validated the day of his engagement, and still defends today. The sixty-year-old also contests that he was at the reception (which acts as an observation lodge) chatting with the victim’s uncle when the victim drowned: “I never interrupt surveillance “. The only certainty: the Dutchman did not see the little girl waving his arms in the pelvis when his head was underwater. A gesture attested by a teenager, interpreted however by the latter as a “greeting” addressed to other people and not a sign of distress, the child having not shouted or said anything. Cantonal judge Jean-Pierre Derivaz will deliver his verdict later.
Created: 02.17.2020, 9:38 p.m.
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