Trial after rockfall in Steyr adjourned – expert report

Indictment against senior company head and geologist

The defendants are the senior head of a Carinthian blasting company, whose son died in the accident, as well as a geologist. The defendants pleaded not guilty. In the event of a conviction, the men face prison sentences of up to two years.

The 26-page criminal complaint is based on several expert reports. The prosecutor charges the men with negligent homicide and also filed a motion for a corporate financial penalty. For the prosecutor, it was clear that the method of removal – from above onto loose rock – was "wrong".

The geologist admittedly had no knowledge of the removal method, but should have informed himself about it beforehand; had he done so, he would have recognized the wrong method, according to the prosecution representative. The public prosecutor's office therefore accuses the 61-year-old geologist of failing to adequately inform himself about the planned procedure.

Defense disputes responsibility

The defense rejected the charges. The defense attorney for the 61-year-old geologist countered that the son of the senior company head had "on his own responsibility" positioned himself on the boulder and thus "knowingly entered the dangerous situation". According to the defense, the geologist would never have come up with the "absurd idea" of placing an excavator on the rock at risk of falling.

The lawyer for the 69-year-old senior company head argued that his client had relied on the expert's assessment. This points to a dispute over responsibilities between the commissioned geologist and the contractor whose son operated the construction machine on the slope.

New expert report to clarify sequence of events

The court now wants to obtain an additional expert report on the course of the fall. It is intended to clarify where the excavator was located at the time of the collapse. The trial was adjourned to 14 October pending the availability of this expert report.

According to the court, the first day of hearings proceeded as planned, with the reading of the criminal complaint and the questioning of the defendants. Further witnesses are to be heard and closing statements held only after the new expert report has been presented.

Open questions before continuation in October

The amount of the threatened corporate financial penalty was not specified on the first day of the trial. The exact amount of damage to the buildings near the accident site in Unterhimmel has also not been made public so far.

With the adjournment, the central question of the proceedings remains open for the time being: Who bears the responsibility for the fact that the excavator was positioned on a boulder that then crumbled and released around 3,000 cubic meters of rock? The additional expert report is intended to provide the answer.