Last updated on 9th November 2023
Five witnesses were scheduled to appear in court, alongside the expert hired by the municipality, Pedro Ginja, who has continued to provide clarifications to all those present about his report.
It should be recalled that, in the dock of the Central Instance Court of the District of Madeira, are the former vice-president of the Funchal Chamber, Idalina Perestrelo, and Francisco Andrade, who was the head of the municipality gardens. Both are accused of 13 crimes of negligent homicide and 24 crimes of injury to physical integrity by negligence.
The expert assured that the ‘Monte’ tree had a healthy root system and there was no reason why the tree should have fallen. When questioned by one of the victim’s family lawyers about whether Pedro Ginja requested any geological survey of the land, the expert said that no mechanical injury or soil injury was found that would have weakened the tree, on the contrary, the root was 100% healthy.
On whether it would not be important to know in depth the state of the soil where the tree was located, Pedro Ginja replied negatively but pointed out that this type of analysis is frequent in the case of works. “In this specific case, I’ve never seen soil analyses done to find out how trees are supported.
We did not find any injury that would justify the fall of that tree, but the tree fell,” hence there was a soil analysis.
Commenting further, Pedro Ginja stated, “in the case of the tree in Largo da Fonte, “I studied it to exhaustion. I reaffirm, that the tree did not have any mechanical injury that justifies what happened.” He then went on to criticise those who held onto the ‘fungi hypothesis.”
The presiding judge questioned whether the fireworks, music, and vibrations of a pneumatic hammer at a nearby construction site could have been contributory factors. Responding to this, Pedro Ginja said that he made reference to these aspects in the forensic examination because of the vibration. Asked if this situation can be imputed to the defendants, Pedro Ginja replied “I don’t think so.”
He also understands that it is not necessary to suspend the fireworks at the Monte festival, as has been the case since 2017, because that factor will not have had an influence. In his view, fireworks can be launched as long as they are in an open space, as he recommended to the municipality. “What happened there was very unlucky, it was one set of factors that led to the outcome and that it would not be possible to predict the soil movement that weakened the tree.”
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
