Motorist cleared of daughter's manslaughter

A man was yesterday cleared of involuntarily causing the death of his 16-year-old daughter who died when the car they were in skidded and crashed against a wall on the coast road on their way to a family dinner on Christmas eve 2001.

On clearing Anthony Caruana of causing the "unfortunate incident" through negligence, Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani added: "Besides, one cannot overlook the fact that, during this traffic accident, the accused lost his 16-year-old daughter and his other daughter was in danger of dying, this apart from the injuries suffered by his wife, his daughter's boyfriend and himself.

"No court can inflict a punishment worse than the burden he will have to bear for the rest of his life, even though the incident was unpredictable and inevitable."

Mr Caruana was driving along the coast road towards St Julians. With him in the car were four passengers - his wife was sitting in the front passenger seat, their youngest daughter, Stephanie, was sitting behind her, their other daughter, Vanessa, was sitting in the middle and her boyfriend, Neville Delmar, sat next to her, behind Mr Caruana. They were heading towards the Radisson SAS Hotel for a Christmas eve meal when it started drizzling.

Mr Caruana explained how he felt the car sway sideways and, after pointing it out to the others in the car, he immediately slowed down. However, the car skidded, hit the pavement, started swerving and spun round three times. In the process it hit a car that was driving in the opposite direction (towards Bugibba) and crashed against a wall.

The car it collided with was a Peugeot driven by Angelo Chircop who was with his five children. Although the Peugeot was damaged, none of the passengers were injured.

However, all the passengers in Mr Caruana's car - a Ford Escort - had to be taken to hospital. His two daughters were in danger of dying and later that night his youngest daughter passed away. His other daughter suffered seven fractured ribs and had a punctured lung while his wife, Mr Delmar and the accused escaped with slight injuries.

Magistrate Padovani noted that court-appointed experts Joseph Micallef and Joseph Zammit had concluded that Mr Caruana had been speeding and was under a "self inflicted incapacity" when the accident happened.

However, on evaluating evidence, the magistrate ruled that her conscience did not allow her to rely on the experts' evidence alone. Evidence showed that Mr Caruana was driving in steady traffic and at 25 - 30 miles an hour - a reasonable speed for the coast road. Evidence also showed that, when Mr Caruana experienced the first skid, he reduced speed immediately.

For these reasons, the magistrate could not find him guilty of driving negligently or causing the accident. What had happened was an "unfortunate incident".

Lawyers Simon Galea and Ramon Mercieca prosecuted.

Lawyer Joseph Giglio appeared for Mr Caruana.