Organizer of the flight that cost Emiliano Sala’s life is found guilty of negligence

David Henderson, the man who organized the trip to Emiliano Sala a Cardiff, in which the Argentine footballer died, has been convicted of the charge of “endangering the safety of the aircraft.”

The court of Cardiff (Wales) found guilty by majority of this charge to Henderson, after he himself pleaded guilty to the charge of organizing the flight without having the necessary permits.

Sala and pilot David Ibbotson passed away on January 21, 2019 in a plane crash in the English Channel, when the Argentine footballer traveled from Nantes to Cardiff after completing his signing for the Welsh club.

The penalty of Henderson, who was the person in charge of organizing the trips of the plane in which Sala died and who scheduled the trip to Cardiff Despite knowing the irregularities of Ibbotson, it will be known on November 12.

The owner of the aircraft, Fay Keely, had warned Henderson not to let fly Ibbotson, for not having a license to perform commercial flights and for having received several notices of irregularities from the air authorities.

However, when the intermediaries of the transfer of Living room they commissioned Henderson organize the flight to CardiffThis, not being in Nantes and being in Paris with his wife, hired Ibbotson for the job.

Henderson He argued at trial that he convinced Keely to carry out the work over the phone, but Keely admitted not remembering that call.

According to what was presented to the jury, which needed more than seven hours to reach a verdict, Henderson, once he learned that the plane had crashed, sent several messages to different people asking them to keep silent so as not to “uncover a full can of worms ”.

The defendant explained that he feared that his businesses would be investigated due to this incident.

The prosecution’s attorney, Martin Goudie, argued that Henderson was “negligent” in how he operated the plane and that he “put his business above the safety of the passengers by hiring pilots without the necessary qualifications to fly or not competent to fly. complete certain flights ”.

Sala’s body was recovered days after the accident next to the plane’s fuselage, while that of Ibbotson never found.

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