Former Gozo trade school student wins almost Lm30,000 in damages

The Director of Education was yesterday ordered to pay almost Lm30,000 in damages to a man who was injured when he attended a Gozo trade school in 1986.

The judgment was delivered by Magistrate Anthony Ellul, sitting in the Gozo courts, following a writ filed by Wayde Camilleri against the director and against the Government Principal Medical Officer.

The Gozo court heard that in 1986 Mr Camilleri was a student in the Gozo trade school. He suffered a permanent disability to one of his eyes in October of that year when a piece of metal pierced it. At the time, Mr Camilleri was 16 years old and was studying to become a motor mechanic.

The boy's teacher had not been in the class when the accident happened and it resulted that the boys had not been given any safety equipment.

The court added that, after a judgment delivered in 2003, the case had been remitted to the Court of Appeal for confirmation of responsibility for the accident. The Court of Appeal had, last December, confirmed that the Director of Education was responsible for the accident. The appellate court had then remitted the case back to the Gozo courts for damages to be liquidated.

Magistrate Ellul pointed out that the court-appointed medical expert had concluded that Mr Camilleri had sustained a 30 per cent disability as a result of the injuries to his left eye. Case-law had established that the complete loss of sight in one eye gave rise to a disability of 25 per cent. In this case, Mr Camilleri had not completely lost his vision. The court heard that Mr Camilleri could only see nearby objects from his left eye and it concluded that he had suffered a permanent disability of 17 per cent.

Although it did not seem to be the case that Mr Camilleri's injury had negatively affected his earning capacity, this did not mean that Mr Camilleri was not entitled to compensation for his injury. Magistrate Ellul awarded Mr Camilleri Lm28,044.07 in damages and ordered the Director of Education to pay the sum so set.