8 months imprisonmentwith a three-year suspension, imposed yesterday by the Larissa Single-member Misdemeanor Court on a coach of a children’s football team, as he was found guilty of negligent bodily harm, when a 15-year-old goalkeeper was struck by lightning, as a storm broke out while he was playing football with his teammates.

It was shortly after 6 pm on June 13, 2018 and at the Football Academy field outside Larissa, when the 15-year-old then 3rd High School student, along with other children – teammates, participated in the last training of the year, as a goalkeeper in his football team .

When it broke out storm and while the young players were asked – according to what was said in court – by their coach to leave the field, a lightning “caught” the 15-year-old under the goalposts, turning the beloved football into a drama, with the child’s family experiencing her own “Golgotha”.

The doctors of GNL managed to revive the 15-year-old that afternoon, however, five years later he remains bedridden today, with no signs of improvement and “in a waking coma”, as testified by the 56-year-old builder and father of the goalkeeper.

An accident that highlighted the dimension of security measures, especially her lightning protection in private and public sports facilities, an aspect that was brought up in court yesterday. In the context of the trial, the father of the 15-year-old referred to the events of that afternoon as they were conveyed to him, to refer to the situation in which his son is today, five years later. Saying that “we feed him with a syringe, he does not communicate, he is in a coma, today he is 20 years old in a state of waking coma”, he also noted the unbearable financial cost of meeting his child’s health needs.

Neighbor – eyewitness a witness testified, among other things, that “the children were playing in the rain and lightning was falling from afar” and that he saw the lightning strike the field “and splash him down”.

Also yesterday, teammates testified, among others, while in his apology the coach stated that he was “shocked” by the event.

To describe her events “last training of the year” palleviating that when “the drizzle started, I said to your children please let’s leave. Some kids said not to leave yet, some stayed but most of the kids left the field when I heard the “bang” and saw the kid down. I told the others to call the EMS and I went to the child.”

“There were no severe weather phenomena, there was no lightning,” the coach explained, adding that “as a human being, if I had to do something to prevent what happened, I would have done it, it was an unforeseen event.”

The district attorney proposed the defendant’s guilt, with the Court adopting the proposal and finding the coach guilty of negligent bodily harm caused by an omission by an obligee, imposed a prison sentence of 8 months, with a three-year suspension.