Boy's family wins €13,000 damages over balcony collapse

A family from Xewkija was yesterday ordered to pay €13,000 to a boy seriously injured when a balcony collapsed onto the road during the Xewkija village feast nine years ago.

The boy's parents had filed the case against Francis and Giorgia Rapa and their daughter Maria Josette.

The incident happened during the village feast on June 27, 1999. Four-year-old Ryan Vella was in the street with his mother and their daughter was on a balcony throwing water-filled balloons onto the people beneath.

There were also four other persons on the balcony, which belonged to the Rapa family.

The stone balustrades gave way and some of them fell on Ryan. The Vella family claimed that their son suffered a life threatening injury and they requested the Gozo courts to order the Rapas to pay them damages.

Magistrate Anthony Ellul said it resulted from the evidence that the open balcony was for decorative purposes only, and the Rapas confirmed that they only made use of it during the village feast. The stone balustrades were not supposed to be weight bearing.

The court observed that Mr and Mrs Rapa allowed their daughter and her friends to use the balcony to throw water balloons even though the balcony was not suitable for this purpose. The Rapas ought never to have allowed this use to be made of their balcony.

It further resulted that the balcony was not well maintained and the court declared that it was morally convinced that the accident was caused through negligence on the part of the Rapa family.