A Gozo court yesterday awarded the family of a traffic accident victim over €8,000 (Lm3,434) in damages after concluding that the deceased had contributed towards the accident.

The judgment was delivered by Magistrate Anthony Ellul in a case filed by the heirs of Maria Conti against Salvu Mifsud.

The case goes back to 1996 when Mrs Conti was hit by a car driven by Mr Mifsud while she was crossing Fortunato Mizzi Street, Victoria.

The court declared that very little evidence was produced by the parties to the suit. According to Mr Mifsud, Mrs Conti had been running when he hit her but the court ruled that this was not the case and that Mrs Conti had been 75 years old at the time. She died three days later as a result of the accident.

The court noted that it resulted that Mr Mifsud had failed to keep a proper look out for pedestrians while he was driving. However, the magistrate added that a very short distance from the site of the accident was a pedestrian crossing. By failing to make use of such a facility, Mrs Conti had placed herself in clear danger. A pedestrian was bound not to create danger for others when crossing a road.

As a result, both Mrs Conti and Mr Mifsud were found by the court to be equally responsible for the fatal accident.

In liquidating damages, the court noted that Mrs Conti was 75 when the accident occurred.

Mr Mifsud was ordered to pay Mrs Conti's heirs €8,176.50 (Lm3,510).