Penza, 24 December 2015. PenzaNews. The Penza region court has left unchanged the 5 November 2015 verdict of the Penza Oktyabrsky city area court over the traffic incident that caused the death of Dmitry Sviridov, principal of the school No. 43, mere days before the “Farewell Bell” school holiday.

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“The court found that Dmitry Khomenko was driving a Mazda 6 car on the road along ‘Lenta’ hypermarket towards Stroiteley prospekt between 00.45 and 1.00 of May 17, without having a proper license to be eligible for driving one. When he passed along the section by apartment building No. 1B at the speed of over 30 kmph, he lost control of the car and steered it into the curbstone on the left; following that, he threw his car to the right, saw the pedestrian walking along the road on the sidewalk, failed to slow down or steer away the vehicle, and hit the pedestrian,” Natalya Bychenkova, press secretary of the Penza region court, told PenzaNews agency.

Dmitry Sviridov succumbed to injuries sustained in the incident on May 22, she reminded.

“The driver accepted the full guilt for the incident during the court session. He explained that on May 16, he bought the car that he registered for his sister, and they were celebrating the purchase in a bar in the evening, though he did not drink any alcohol. His acquaintance and him left the bar after midnight, but decided to return – with Dmitry Khomenko driving the car, even though he does not have a driving license. When the man felt a hit and left the car, he saw a man lying on the ground under the vehicle, his leg suppressed. His acquaintance and him left the accident area towards ‘Kollazh’ shopping and entertainment center. On their way, they encountered a before unknown mobile circus employee, and asked him to call ER. Later, he met his sister, asked her to contact the accident victim, and left for Moscow to earn money. Afterwards, he sent his sister 250,000 rubles to give to relatives of the deceased,” the regional court press secretary explained.

Following the court order, Dmitry Khomenko is banned from driving for 2 years and 10 months, and must pay 550,000 rubles to the suffering party as compensation of moral damages, she added.

“Disagreeing with the verdict, the suffering party and its representative appealed the court decision, but the appeal was left without approval by the criminal case department of the Penza region court. The sentence has entered into force,” Natalya Bychenkova concluded.