A 23-year-old man was yesterday given a one-year jail term suspended for three years and fined Lm400 for involuntarily causing the death of a woman while driving under the influence of alcohol.

Christopher Spiteri, of Qormi, admitted to running over Helen Bugeja on December 4, 1999.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera noted that Spiteri, who was 18 at the time, had a clean criminal record and had settled down since the incident.

She noted that the victim's family had been compensated for their loss by Spiteri's insurance cover and the victim's heirs did not have pending cases against Spiteri.

On evaluating the circumstances of the case, the magistrate felt that since this was an involuntary crime, an effective jail term was not appropriate. On the other hand, Spiteri's negligence, brought about by drink driving, led to death and he did deserve a suspended jail term. She also banned him from driving for six months.

According to replies to parliamentary questions last year, 10 people lost their lives in a traffic accident between January and October 2004.

There were 17 traffic fatalities in 2003 and in 2002, 19 in 2001, 15 in 2000 and 14 in 1999.