Bentley-driving 4 year-old hits pedestrian on place du Casino: father convicted

The Monegasque courts handed down their verdict, three years after the dramatic accident that almost claimed the life of a man in his fifties in front of the Hôtel de Paris on the Place du Casino. We take a look back at what happened, and the Tribunal’s final decision.

The many people responsible for setting up the famous Monegasque Red Cross concert still remember the evening very well, but not for the reasons you might imagine. On 16 July 2021, the Place du Casino was jam-packed for the occasion, when all eyes suddenly turned to the Hôtel de Paris.

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A 53-year-old Monaco resident had just been hit by a Bentley as he left the building. Completely crushed by the sedan weighing several tonnes, the man was rushed to Nice’s hospital Pasteur with life-threatening injuries.

Pulled out at the last second from under the vehicle by several brave bystanders and Red Cross volunteers, the victim ‘got away with’ multiple fractures and haemorrhages, a coma, six months of sick leave plus a year and a half of treatment, and still suffers from physical and psychological after-effects today.

The perpetrator was… a four-year-old child

They never imagined that their holiday in the Principality would turn into a tragedy. On the first day they arrived, a few hours after picking up the keys to their rented Bentley, a family of Armenian citizens went to park the car in front of the Hôtel de Paris.

As the father handed the keys to the valet, the little boy, who was four years old at the time and sitting with his mother in the back, managed to sneak out of the car and into the driver’s seat. As he climbed in, the child slipped onto the accelerator pedal, sending the vehicle ploughing into the crowd at over 8 kph.

Extensive analysis of the vehicle and CCTV camera footage showed that the Bentley was not in “Park” but “Drive” mode, with the engine still running.

Also, despite the sedan being at a complete standstill and the driver’s door being open, the safety system was not triggered due to an insert in the seatbelt housing (seatbelts are not compulsory in Monaco).

One-year suspended sentence for the child’s father

The child’s father did not deny the experts’ reports in court. However, he insisted that the valet was entirely responsible for the vehicle and the child, since he was “facing the action, saw the child climb in and already had the keys to the Bentley in his possession.”

Emmanuelle Carniello, the deputy public prosecutor, did not accept these arguments, accusing him of three clear errors: not switching off the engine and leaving the vehicle in “Drive” mode, leaving the insert in the seatbelt housing, and failing to keep an eye on his, not the valet’s, child.

Although he was not the actual offender, the 52-year-old father was found responsible for his son’s actions and therefore guilty of the offence of involuntary bodily harm. As requested by the prosecutor, Monaco’s Criminal Court handed down an entirely suspended sentence of one year in prison.

The case was adjourned to a later hearing for the civil aspects of the proceedings, but the defendant was ordered to pay a provisional sum of €100,000 by way of victim compensation.

It should be noted that the victim had to pay all of his medical expenses himself, and has received no compensation in the three years since the accident.