A Spanish court has ruled there is no criminal liability relating to the deaths of Liverpool forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva following a car crash in July last year. The 28-year-old Portuguese striker and his brother were killed in the early hours of July 3 when the Lamborghini Huracan Jota was driving veered off the A-52 motorway in Spain and burst into flames.
The court in Puebla de Sanabria dismissed the case after reviewing expert reports from the Civil Guard’s Traffic Unit, which concluded a tyre blowout occurred while Jota attempted to overtake another vehicle. The crash happened around 70 miles west of Valladolid at approximately 12.40am. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, but both occupants died shortly after emergency services arrived.
Jota had undergone lung surgery and was advised against flying, so he was driving to the northern Spanish port of Santander to take a ferry to Portsmouth, England, with his brother. The fire damage to the wreckage was so extensive that it initially hindered identification of the victims.
The court’s dismissal of criminal proceedings does not preclude the possibility of civil action by affected parties. The news comes 11 days after Jota married Rute Cardoso, who has since relocated to her hometown of Gondomar. Liverpool FC have retired the number 20 shirt Jota wore at the club.
In a statement, sources from the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Castilla y Leon said: 'The dismissal of the criminal proceedings does not preclude the possibility of the affected parties bringing a civil action to claim whatever they deem appropriate.'
