Landlord of Belgian property in which two GMIT students died in a fire has been found guilty
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The landlord of a property in Belgium, where two GMIT students died in a fire over three years ago, has been found guilty.
19-year old Sara Gibadlo from Oranmore, Co Galway and 22-year old Dace Zarina from Co Longford were both in 2nd year, studying for a bachelor of business degree in hotel and catering management at GMIT in Galway, and were part of a group of Irish students on the Erasmus scheme at the Leuven Institute in Belgium.
They died in a blaze at their student accommodation on the morning of 31st January 2014, while eight other students were rescued from the fire.
Today, a court in Belgium has convicted the director of the Leuven Institute in relation to the fatal fire.
Malachy Vallely was both the owner of the student accommodation where the two young women died, and a director of the Institute.
He has been ordered to pay €6,000 and was given a one year suspended sentence.
The Institute was also found criminally responsible for the deaths of the two students, and was fined 60,000 euro.
The court also heard that another student who lived in the house, Shane Bracken, accidentally started the fire when he fell asleep after lighting a cigarette following a night out.
He has been found guilty of causing involuntary death and received a three-month suspended sentence and has been fined €600.
A hearing will take place in November in Leuven during which the two families may take civil proceedings against Mr Vallely and the institute, through the Belgian system.
