Employee wins €96,928 damages for 1996 accident

A government employee was today awarded €96,928 in damages by a court after he lost an eye during an incident while fetching an injured bird in Ghadira in 1996.

Mr Justice Joseph Azzopardi delivered this judgment following a writ of summons filed by Antoine Gatt against the Director General for Rural Affairs and the Environment.

Mr Gatt told the court that he had lost his eye sight when he had been instructed to fetch an injured bird from Ghadira without having been provided with protective clothing.

In a judgment delivered last March the First Hall of the Civil Court had ruled that the Department of Rural Affairs and the Environment bore two-thirds of the responsibility for the incident. In today's judgment the court proceeded to liquidate the damages suffered by Mr Gatt.

Mr Justice Azzopardi said that Mr Gatt had been 25 years old when the accident occurred, and that the court would therefore work out his damages over a 30-year period. Mr Gatt's salary at the time was of Lm5,200 per annum, which when calculated on a 30-year period amounted to Lm156,000. Mr Gatt had suffered a 40 per cent permanent disability and this percentage of Lm156,000 amounted to Lm41,600 equivalent to €96,928.

The government was ordered to pay this sum in damages to Mr Gatt