Dutch 'monster truck' stuntman jailed after killing three

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Dutch 'monster truck' stuntman jailed after killing three

AFP on April 15, 2016, 10:38 pm

The Hague (AFP) - The stuntman driver of a souped-up monster truck which ploughed into a crowd during a show in the Netherlands killing three people was jailed for 15 months on Friday, court officials said.

"The judges decided that he had failed to take into account sufficiently the risks to the public," the court from Almelo said in its ruling.

The 51-year-old man, identified by local media as Mario D., was also "banned from working as a stuntman for five years."

The truck, sporting outsized tyres and a powerful engine, surged off a public square after driving over a line of flattened prop cars in September 2014 and crashed through a barricade into the audience in the eastern town of Haaksbergen.

A man, one woman and a child were killed. More than 30 people were hurt.

The show was staged in a large street and square in the small town. But the court found the space was "too small" for a four-tonne vehicle.

The prosecution had called for an 18-month sentence and a ban from working as a stuntman for 10 years.

The organisers of the show were also ordered to pay a 25,000 euro fine.