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A 20-year-old man who is charged in the tree-felling case was in shock when two of his friends felled a large tree, which fell onto a road in the middle of the night in Sorø.
He says this when he gives evidence in the Court in Næstved on Wednesday.
“I was in a panic, so me and someone else decided to drive away. We didn’t want to be part of it,’ he says.
He drove with another to a remote road two kilometers from the tree and waited while the tree was felled. After 20 minutes, they received a call that “something bad had happened”, explains the 20-year-old in court.
He is one of the six young men charged with manslaughter in the tree felling case.
On March 13 last year, shortly after midnight, the tree – a 35 meter high fir tree with a diameter of 116 centimeters – fell across a road and hit a car. A 55-year-old secondary school teacher who was at the wheel died instantly.
The six men are also charged with causing imminent danger to someone’s life and vandalism.
The men who gave evidence agree that it was two of the men who felled the tree with a chainsaw and wedges.
One of those who cut down the tree has previously explained that it happened because they were bored.
“There was some tension in it. We wanted to wreak havoc and block traffic,’ he has previously said in court.
“It’s going so fast”
Earlier in the evening, the six men met and they agreed to make a “sneak”, as the defendants call it. By that we mean a drive.
They first pulled over to the side of a road in Slagelse, where one of the men, who also felled the tree in Sorø, took out a chainsaw.
“It’s going so fast that no one has time to ask why he’s doing it. I think we’re saying that it’s crazy that he does it”, explains the 20-year-old on Wednesday.
The tree fell across the road and the six men hurried away from the scene.
On Wednesday, prosecutor Charlotte Skovmand shows two videos from the tree felling in Slagelse. The videos were filmed on the 20-year-old’s phone. It is completely dark, but in the background you can hear a chainsaw and voices.
Among other things, people say “it’s bound to go wrong there” and “he’s so sick there”.
Two of the men who are also indicted for felling trees on March 12 and 13 are, together with three other young men, accused of cutting down three trees on the night of March 3.
The nine defendants in total are between the ages of 18 and 22. Most plead not guilty, but do not deny having been present during the felling of the trees.
A verdict is expected at the end of January.
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Source: politiken.dk
