Crane operator fined over Freeport injury

A crane operator at the Freeport was yesterday fined Lm500 for involuntarily causing serious injuries to his colleague when he dropped a container on a truck.

Another four employees at the Freeport were cleared of all responsibility in the accident.

The five men had been charged with seriously injuring John Mary Garnisi through negligence on August 19, 1999.

They were crane operator Oswald Caruana, 40, of Valletta; operations manager Martin Azzopardi, 37, of San Gwann; assistant operations manager Nick Bellizzi, 40, of Zabbar; maintenance and repairs manager Ivan Curmi, 38, of Tarxien and shift leader Raymond Gauci, 48, of Valletta. Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera heard how Mr Garnisi was seriously injured when a container fell on the truck he was in.

At the time of the accident, Mr Caruana was stacking containers with a rubber tyre gantry. As Mr Caruana was moving a container, he hit another one that was stacked on top of another three containers. The container he hit fell and landed on the truck operated by Mr Garnisi.

On evaluating the evidence, the magistrate noted that the accident had occurred because of the manoeuvre carried out by Mr Caruana - an experienced operator whose work did not require supervision. She fined Mr Caruana Lm500 and ordered him to pay the legal fees which amounted to Lm552.

The magistrate cleared the other four men as they were in no way responsible for the accident.

Police Inspector Maria Stella Attard prosecuted. In a judgement handed down by the civil courts in October 2004, Mr Garnisi was awarded Lm84,500 in damages.

The court had ruled that both the company and Mr Caruana were responsible for the accident that had left him with a 12 per cent disability at the age of 55.