Appeal court upholds sentence after driver reverses into woman
Thursday 12th November 2026 on 18:31 in
Iceland
Iceland’s Court of Appeal has upheld a man’s conviction for reversing into a woman in a Reykjavík car park, leaving her with life-threatening injuries. The man received a 30-day suspended prison sentence and must pay her 3.5 million krónur in compensation, plus interest, mbl.is reported.
The ruling leaves unchanged a Reykjavík District Court judgment from December last year on the conviction, sentence and compensation. The Court of Appeal added that surveillance footage showed the man had acted with considerable disregard for safety while driving.
The crash happened on March 15, 2024, at a car park at Lóuhólar 2–6. The man drove in looking for a parking space, then began reversing and hit the woman as she walked to a shop. She became trapped beneath the car, and passers-by lifted it to free her.
The man denied wrongdoing, saying he had taken care while driving and had not seen the woman because she was in a blind spot, despite checking his mirrors and reversing camera. The courts rejected that account. They found she had been directly behind the car and that he should have seen her if he had been sufficiently attentive. He continued reversing after feeling an impact and stopped only when people knocked on his window to alert him.
The Court of Appeal said the footage showed very careless driving, particularly as he reversed. The car had barely stopped before he drove backwards at speed.
The woman suffered multiple broken ribs, fractures to her skull and facial bones, and numerous other injuries. Her injuries were life-threatening, according to the District Court. Her hospital stay and rehabilitation lasted about five months, and she told the court she continued to experience effects from the crash.
The man’s prison sentence is fully suspended for two years. He must also pay 4,105,019 krónur in legal costs from the District Court proceedings and the appeal. He had sought acquittal, or alternatively a lighter sentence, while the woman had sought five million krónur in compensation.