The intermediary who organized the flight whose accident cost the life of Argentine soccer player Emiliano Sala in 2019 was sentenced this Friday to 18 months in prison for having hired a pilot, being aware that he lacked the required qualification.
On October 28, after two weeks of hearing and seven hours of deliberation, the popular jury of a court in Cardiff, Wales, found David Henderson, 67, guilty of recklessness or negligence likely to have endangered the apparatus.
In addition, he acknowledged his guilt for transporting a passenger without valid authorization to do so. Then he had been released.
The small private plane aboard the 28-year-old and pilot David Ibbotson sank in the English Channel on January 21, 2019. The French Nantes forward was to join Cardiff City, whereby He had just signed for 17 million euros ($ 19.4 million).
The body of the player, whose disappearance shocked the world of football, was recovered from inside the aircraft more than two weeks after the accident, at a depth of 67 meters.
The body of the 59-year-old pilot was not found.
According to the version of the prosecution during the process, the defendant had to pilot the aircraft at first, but when he was on vacation in Paris with his wife, he entrusted the transport to David Ibbotson. The latter did not have a commercial pilot license, his qualification for this type of aircraft had expired and he did not have the competence required to perform night flights. (AFP)