Skier Who killed British Child in Collision Guilty of Manslaughter
2nd May 2026
Last modified on June 14th, 2026
The 43-year-old was convicted of manslaughter of the 5-year-old in Flaine and given a 12-month suspended sentence. It raises questions of ski safety as some ski out of control. UPDATED
The accident happened in the French resort in 2022 on a blue slope, the Serpentine.
The child, Ophélie, was part of a group lesson led by a ski instructor.
She was at the back of the group when an out-of-control skier hit her at speed – around 60km/h (37 mph).
We reported on the incident at the time on PlanetSKI:
The 43-year-old man was given a 12-month suspended sentence by the Bonneville judicial court in Haute-Savoie.
He was ordered to pay €165,000 (£142,000) in damages to the child’s family.
She had fallen slightly behind the other children and was at the back of the group preparing to turn when she was hit.
They travelled a ‘considerable’ distance down the slope after impact.
She received first aid at the scene and was taken to Sallanches hospital where she was pronounced dead.
In court, the defendant acknowledged that his speed may have been inappropriate for the conditions.
The man is a volunteer firefighter and administered first aid to the girl after the accident.
His lawyer described him as an experienced and generally cautious skier and said it was simply a tragic accident.
The slope in question has been the site of several fatal accidents in recent years.
Since the incident the slope has been modified with improved visibility and prominent signage installed to encourage skiers to slow down.
Lawyers for the family criticised the length of the proceedings and aspects of the response in the immediate aftermath.
They said the legal case had compounded their grief.
They described themselves as ‘devastated’ and ‘worn down’ by four years of investigation.
It brings into question the issue of people skiing out of control and what the authorities should do about it.
- Should the piste patrol take a more proactive approach to people who ski out of control?
- Should speed limits be introduced?
- Should lift passes be taken away?
- Should so-called ‘piste police’ be introduced?
- Should people be breathalysed?
- Should more there be more signage and safety barriers?
- Should more education be rolled out?
- Should the freedom to ski however you want be retained?
See this earlier PlanetSKI post on the issue:
Verbier Piste Patrol. Image © PlanetSKI
There have been dozens of comments from readers on the issue of slope safety on the PlanetSKI Facebook page.
We have posted a separate article, including many of the ideas and comments:
Here’s a small sample of them:
Anika Louise York Stewart: Just like in every area of life now, there are self-centred people who lack common sense. Reckless people who believe they can do no wrong and there are no consequences to their actions. Zero tolerance to dickish behaviour from a well staffed ski patrol would help.
Toria Hyder: This is so scary and can happen so, so easily because so many adults ski out of control and couldn’t stop quickly if they had to.
Resorts need to be upping their ski school ratios, Europe particularly you see groups of young kids with one instructor and often the kids at the back are a really long way from the instructor at the front. The european slopes are so busy too, compared to Canadas resorts.
I think resorts also need to have a lot of plains clothes resort staff skiing the slopes every day picking off these people who are skiing dangerously, it would be pretty easy to use a few eyes, walkie talkies and catch up with skiiers using a description of reports come in.
Ski passes can be removed from anyone warned more than once. Members of the public can also report skiers who they’ve seen skiing dangerously to resort staff.
Every day you see someone who should be stopped and reprimanded but no one ever does anything about it. When you’re skiing with a small child it’s scary.
It would be like being hit by a car at the speeds some of them are doing, big, heavy 6ft plus men vs a 20kg kid.
Dixie Dean: The Italian local police are now patrolling some snowsports resorts and issuing fines to people skiing or boarding recklessly or under the influence of drink or drugs.
Jackie Jones: My daughter was killed by a french boarder in the alps many years ago he came over a ledge and jumped into her sent her flying multiple injuries caused her death on the slope he was in a coma dor a week and was charged with homicidal manslaughter. As an avid skier I was never as confident after that. She was a good skier never stood a chance 18 years of age. The slopes need secret ski patrols to monitor safe skiing anyone skiing recklessly should have their pass confiscated no excuse.
See here for many more comments from PlanetSKI readers:
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