The work accident that resulted in the death of Rui Martins, one of the musicians from the band Santos & Pecadores, is being tried in the Santarém Court.
The defendants include the company that hired him, Pye – Poweryeldenergia, based in Montemor-o-Novo, and its two managing partners, aged 33 and 42, respectively, accused by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) of a crime of violating safety rules, aggravated by the illicit result.
Rui Martins, who was 40 years old at the time, died on May 14, 2021, while washing solar panels on the roof of a factory in the parish of Tremês, municipality of Santarém.
The musician, according to the Indictment to which the Regional Network had access, placed his foot on a translucent plate that broke and died immediately after falling helplessly from a height of 10 meters to the floor of the warehouse.
After investigating the accident, the MP concluded that the victim did not have personal protective equipment against the risk of falling from a height, which was never provided to him by the company he had worked for since December 2020.
The MP also considers that Rui Martins performed the task without the mandatory means of fixation to prevent him from falling, such as a harness or safety belt, and that the company never provided him with the necessary training to carry out the maintenance of solar panels.
A musician by profession, Rui Martins found this job during the pandemic, when the ban and cancellation of musical shows greatly affected the artists’ income.
