Bouncer Found Innocent in Death of Võru Nightclub Patron
A nightclub bouncer was found to be not liable for the death of an woman who froze to death on the same night that she was asked to leave the club while not wearing winter clothes.
Tartu County Court acquitted the 36-year-old guard today as his actions did not have the elements of a crime, a spokeswoman said. He had been charged with contributing to a death by negligence.
The incident happened on the early hours of December 15, 2012 in Võru at Club Tartu. Prosecutors had argued that the death of the 18-year-old woman was a result of the fact that the bouncer ordered her to leave and did not inquire as to where the woman's jacket was and whether she could safely get to her destination.
There was no evidence that the guard sent her out on the street but rather that she was directed into a hallway outside the club entrance, the court found.
The nightclub is in central Võru and there were many people in the location at the time, and the bouncer should not have reasonably anticipated that there would be a problem, the court also said.
Witnesses who testified said nothing struck them as out of the ordinary, not even the fact a person was leaving the club not wearing winter clothing. The temperature was about -5 C at the time.
The court found that the woman's death later that night was not necessarily directly or causally connected to her departure from the club and that it was not known what she did in the hours after leaving the club. The time of her death is unknown. She was found frozen to death 460 meters from the club.