Originally Posted by
G0ULI
While I agree that there is no currently published evidence to suggest any criminal intent on behalf of anyone involved in the Shoreham display, there is certainly a substantial amount to suggest that negligence (or ignorance) was a factor. Just how much this negligence contributed to the outcome and in what proportion is strictly for a court to establish.
The severity of this incident cannot allow it to be summarised as just a tragic accident with no one held accountable.
I do not think it appropriate to offer law tutorials on pPrune, even though the nature of the issues thrown up were my line of country in professional practice.
To illustrate the complexity of the issues which arise let me make this analogy.
Last Saturday Lewis Hamilton, having been crowned F1 Champion for 2017, was performing time trials to establish his grid position for the race on Sunday. As he freely admitted he 'overcooked it on a bend' resulting in him losing control of the car and hitting a safety wall.
No one was injured. But suppose someone had not only been inured but was killed in that accident, would Lewis Hamilton be at risk of a criminal prosecution? I cannot for speak for Brazil, but in the UK he most certainly would not be. Why? Because the law of England makes a special exception for dangers arising from sport. Another example may help. As long as a boxing bout is performed as a regulated activity the fact that one boxer may cause very serious harm or even death to another boxer does not expose him to the risk of prosecution, even though two boxers involved in prize fighting which was not supervised by a regulated body would on similar facts be breaking the law.
Before one begins to look at whether there was what you describe as negligence, one first has to consider the context. The context here was a public airshow which by its nature is inherently dangerous. Take the two Red Arrows which fly head on towards each other and then one turns a few seconds prior to the two aircraft hitting each other. The intended display of the Hunter came no where close to that. If like Lewis Hamilton the pilot misjudged the loop, that misjudgment like Hamilton's last Saturday was an inherent incident or risk or danger of the activity he was lawfully engaged in.
Let me make it clear, I am not suggesting that the CPS may not mount a prosecution, but merely illustrating the issues it faces. Populism doers not provide the answer on this occasion.