A 25-year-old man has been sentenced to five years imprisonment for causing death by careless driving while under the influence of alcohol and drugs, Kibris Postasi reports.
Hatip Sanmaz was sentenced by the Nicosia Heavy Penalty Court following a fatal accident he caused on the Güzelyurt-Lefke main road on June 7, 2022.
Judge Murat Soytaç, one of a panel of three judges announced the sentence against Sanmaz.
He said that the accused had committed the most serious crime by causing the death of another and that he had anticipated a sentence of up to seven years plus a fine of up to 50 times the minimum wage.
Judge Soytaç said that the defendant had caused the death of his passenger because he had been driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
The judge noted that although there is a lack of infrastructure in North Cyprus, alcohol, speeding and careless driving are the leading causes of fatal traffic accidents. Soytaç stated that fatal accidents cause irreparable suffering, and that it was in the public interest to hand out exemplary punishments to those who commit such crimes.
Soytaç stated that the panel who judges had taken into consideration the fact that the accused, who was under the influence of alcohol and drugs, took to the road and caused the death of the passenger he was carrying in his vehicle.
The judge said that there were mitigating factors in that the defendant did not flee the scene after the accident, had admitted his guilt in court, and expressed his grief at causing the death of his passenger.