Witness photos, traces of brake marks not hidden by rain, and a lawyer’s persistence helped win the case

The case heard by the Court of First Instance is noteworthy for the unique and important evidence that helped achieve justice. The truth about the accident in which the motorcyclist was killed, was upheld on the basis of eyewitness photographs, the car’s brake marks, and the persistent work of the lawyer. The family members of the deceased were represented in court by NOOR lawyer, Ruslan Boiko.

Unique and relevant evidence – the building blocks of a successful case

The most important thing in this case were the photographs taken by the witnesses immediately after the accident. These photographs clearly showed the brake marks of the car in the oncoming lane that caused the accident, which were subsequently washed away by the rain and could not be captured by the police officers who attended the scene. Nevertheless, the photographs allowed the court to clearly reconstruct the sequence of events that led to the accident and to establish all its circumstances. The quick reaction of the witnesses and the photographs taken immediately after the accident helped to ensure that important evidence was not lost.

The photographs of the brake marks were key to proving that the driver of the car had pulled out into the oncoming lane, where the victim was approaching on his motorcycle, in compliance with the road traffic rules. These marks helped to determine the position of the offender’s car and the moment of braking, which allowed the court to understand more clearly the causes of the accident. Although the rain later erased these marks, the photographs became important evidence for the court.

Advocate’s perseverance

Another reason for the success of the case was the persistent and consistent work of NOOR’s lawyer, Ruslan Boiko. The prosecutor’s office was about to close the pre-trial investigation, finding the motorcyclist who died in the accident to be at fault. The lawyer prevented this from happening by painstakingly collecting evidence, submitting to the prosecutor’s office photographs and video footage taken by witnesses, and the report of a private forensic expert. This allowed the prosecution, and later the court, to present a clear analysis of the events. The lawyer’s competence and determination to defend his client’s interests were crucial factors in the success of the case.

The Court, having considered all the evidence, found that the witnesses’ photographs and the traces of the car’s brake marks, which were not captured by police officers, constituted credible and relevant evidence. After finding the perpetrator guilty, the Court upheld the civil claims brought by the family members of the deceased motorcyclist and awarded damages of almost EUR 500,000.

“The success of this case shows that justice can be achieved even in difficult situations where factual evidence is temporary and can easily be destroyed by natural conditions. Even in the face of the police officers’ obvious failure to record accurately the situation of the accident, which meant that the fault and therefore responsibility of the car driver was transferred to the motorcyclist, the promptness of the witnesses in recording the circumstances of the accident and the active role of the lawyer in the process were the main factors that led to a fair and reasonable decision of the court,” said NOOR’s lawyer, Ruslan Boiko.