Young Driver Who Accidentally Killed Motorcyclist In Pieta’ Let Off After Police Completely Mess Up Charge Sheet
A young man has been found innocent of accidentally killing a motorcyclist as a result of careless driving on his part after police completely messed up his charge sheet.
On 22nd August 2018, at around 7:30am, the driver, who was 25 years old and lived in Naxxar, was driving to work along Triq ix-Xatt, Pieta’, en route to Valletta.
Traffic was slow-moving at the time, with witnesses stating they were driving at around 20-30km/h. The young man was driving a Peugeot 206 and was behind a white Toyota Vitz, when a motorbike that seemed to have been navigating through the traffic jam suddenly appeared in front of him.
The driver didn’t notice and crashed into the bike; the motorcyclist fell off and his vehicle subsequently skidded into the Vitz. The motorcyclist, a 53-year-old man from Msida who was later identified as Mark Vassallo, was taken to hospital and succumbed to his injuries.
Police charged the driver with involuntarily causing Vassallo’s death through neglect or non-obedience of traffic rules, as well as with dangerous driving and damage to the motorbike and the Vitz.
However, they got some basic facts wrong in the charge sheet, which claimed the incident took place at 1:30am in Triq Dun Karm.
The driver’s car was also wrongly identified as a Volkswagen Golf, with a completely different registration number.
Lovin Malta is informed that the police inspector who was initially in charge of the case had been transferred to a different department shortly after the incident and handed over her brief to a new inspector.
The new inspector, who is no longer in the police force, appeared to have used a completely different charge sheet when charging the accused.
In a ruling this morning, magistrate Astrid Grima found the accused innocent of all charges due to the significant disparities between the facts proven in court and the details within the charges that were levelled against him.
She also said the police failed to present proof that the accused was driving dangerously and that the accident was the result of a shortcoming from his part. She dropped the vehicle damage charges because police claimed the accused was driving a Golf when he was actually driving a Peugeot.
Moreover, since the accused wasn’t immediately informed of his right to a lawyer, his version of events to police on site was considered null and void.
Lawyer Alex Scerri Herrera was representing the accused.
Cover photo: Malta Police Force
What do you make of this case?
READ NEXT: Police Confirm No Officers Will Be Stationed At Comino Station After 8:30pm This Summer
