A woman and her son, convicted by a jury of allowing 18-year-old Rachel Bowdler to die of a drug overdose to avoid getting into trouble with the law, will be spending a total of 40 years behind bars.
Concetta Decelis was jailed for 15 years and her son Jason for 25 in the first ever conviction in Malta for what is known as murder by omission.
Carmel Decelis, the father, was jailed for one-and-a-half years as he was cleared of murder but was found guilty of involuntary homicide.
The father, the mother and their son stood trial together. The last time such a thing happened in Maltese courts was almost two centuries ago.
The couple, both 57, and their 29-year-old son stood accused of the murder by omission of Ms Bowdler, whose lifeless body was found by a farmer in a field in an area known as Ras Il-Gebel, in the limits of Mgarr on May 13, 2001. On Friday, jurors found Mrs Decelis guilty of murder by a 7-2 verdict and her son guilty of the same crime by six votes to three.
The father was cleared of murder and found guilty of involuntary homicide by seven votes to two.
Standing side by side in the dock yesterday, Carmel and Concetta Decelis held tightly onto the wooden bar in front of them as they waited for Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono to pass judgment. As their punishment was revealed one at a time, all three family members remained outwardly composed. Carmel Decelis continued looking down when he heard he would be jailed for one and a half years.
As the judge read out the sentence in the case of Mrs Decelis, her son darted a look at her as she nodded discretely. Jason Decelis too nodded, like his mother, when he heard he had been jailed for 25 years.
On handing down judgment, Mr Justice Galea Debono took note of the verdict and the jurors' requests. The members of the jury panel unanimously requested mercy in the case of Carmel and Concetta Decelis and called on the judge to give Jason Decelis all the help he needed to overcome any social problems he might have.
The judge also took note of the circumstances of the case.
Evidence showed that on May 12, 2001, Jason Decelis met Ms Bowdler and the two went to Mrs Decelis' Bugibba apartment.
At about 6 p.m., the young woman lost consciousness and Jason Decelis panicked and phoned his father. When his father arrived, he started wetting Ms Bowdler's face and chest in an attempt to revive her.
Then, at about 10.30 p.m., Mrs Decelis arrived home from work to find her husband tending to an unconscious stranger.
Some time later her husband, the two are now separated, left for his Pietà apartment where he spent the night worried about the young woman.
Mrs Decelis stayed up all night tending to Ms Bowdler and the following morning, at about 6 a.m., her husband called to check on the young woman and then went back to Bugibba where he saw that the girl was still in a bad shape.
As Mrs Decelis realised that Ms Bowdler was no longer breathing, she decided that the young woman's body had to be taken out of her apartment.
Carmel and Jason Decelis carried the girl down the stairs and onto the back seat of Carmel Decelis' car. Jason Decelis sat next to her and gave directions to his father at the wheel. Mrs Decelis sat in the passenger's seat.
When they arrived in a field in Mgarr they laid the young woman on the ground and drove back home.
In the judgement, Mr Justice Galea Debono noted that the law laid down that having been found guilty of murder, Concetta and Jason Decelis, faced life imprisonment. However, in the absence of a unanimous guilty verdict the jail term could be reduced to a minimum of 12 years.
As for Carmel Decelis, he faced a maximum of two years imprisonment.
The judge noted that Mrs Decelis' criminal record was absolutely clean. Carmel Decelis, however, had five previous convictions which included damage to a car, hurling stones at people and threatening and defaming police officers.
Jason Decelis' record was "more colourful" as he had a series of offences of driving without a licence and carrying weapons illegally. He had been found guilty on three occasions of possession of heroin, once of trafficking in the drug and twice of cannabis possession.
Even after the murder by omission case started, it seemed Jason Decelis had not learnt his lesson because he was found guilty of possession of drugs on another two occasions. This ought to be reflected in his punishment, the judge ruled.
Mr Justice Galea Debono noted that, through their verdict, it seemed jurors concluded that Concetta and Jason Decelis had placed the life of the young girl - who was in a state of absolute helplessness in a place where they had exclusive control - in clear danger when they were the only ones who could call for medical assistance that could have saved her life.
They had, however, decided not to do this for several hours until the young woman died and this in order to avoid any trouble with the police, particularly in the case of Jason Decelis, who was the one who invited the victim to his mother's Bugibba flat.
Such actions were very condemnable, the judge said.
"Through their persistent omission - that lasted about 12 hours in the case of Jason Decelis and about eight hours in the case of Concetta Decelis - they caused or accelerated the death of the young woman who, at the time, was completely and exclusively dependent on them".
As for Carmel Decelis, the court said, the verdict suggested that jurors believed that his actions, during the short time he spent at the flat, amounted to negligence.
After handing down judgment, Mr Justice Galea Debono recommended to prison authorities to help Jason Decelis overcome his drug problem. He also ordered that the time the three family members spent in preventive custody be deducted from their jail term.
Assistant Attorney General Anthony Barbara prosecuted.
Lawyers Chris Soler and Chris Cardona appeared for Carmel Decelis, lawyer Malcolm Mifsud represented Mrs Decelis and lawyer Martin Fenech appeared for their son.