Move to raise punishment in case of multiple deaths

The government is contemplating an amendment to the law on involuntary homicide that would introduce cumulative punishments in the case of multiple fatalities.

This would mean that someone responsible for the deaths of more than one person could receive a punishment for each of the deaths.

The proposed change comes in the light of the three-year jail term handed down to the man who was responsible for Malta’s worst traffic accident which claimed the lives of five youngsters in 2005.

Antoine Cassar was driving a van along Mdina Road, Żebbug when he lost control of his van and smashed into a wall. Five young passengers from Qrendi in the back of the van lost their lives in the crash.

Their parents had argued for a punishment for every person who lost their lives and the Attorney General made the same request in his submissions before the Appeals Court last month. Asking for a prison term of 12 years for Mr Cassar, he argued that it did not make sense to act as though there had only been one victim.

However, both Magistrate’s and subsequently the Appeals Court considered the deaths as one crime – involuntary homicide – so the maximum jail term that could have been handed down was four years and three months.

On the basis of these judgments, and since the case is now closed, the government is looking into amending the law covering multiple involuntary homicides.

“We are looking into the judgment by the Appeals Court on the multiple traffic fatalities that took place at Mdina Road, Żebbuġ in 2005 with a view to amending the law in relation to involuntary murder,” a spokesman for the Justice Ministry told The Times.

mxuereb@timesofmalta.com