A few days before she was killed in a car accident on the Mrieħel bypass, 13-year-old Graziella Fenech told her family she wanted to get an organ donor card now that she was "growing up".

Her mother Carmen quickly dismissed the thought, telling her that she should not be discussing this sort of things at her age.

That same week, in August 2005, Graziella lost her life, two days after being run over with her friend, Emma Marie Housley, on the Mrieħel bypass, an accident for which the driver received a suspended sentence last week.

When doctors first asked if they wanted to donate any of her daughter's organs when she was pronounced dead, her father's reaction was to tell them not to touch a hair, he was so distraught, Mrs Fenech said. However, they changed their minds, bearing in mind Graziella's words, and everything that could be donated was.

What they kept were a few strands of hair, tied up with a plastic band and hung over the shoulder of a statue of Our Lady.

Their pride in Graziella is evident in the pictures in all shapes and sizes of her, hung all over the house.

Keen on sports, especially football, Graziella was always out and about and even played in a boys' team, Sta Venera United. Her pictures, especially the ones where she is seen playing football, are hung on practically every wall in the Qormi house.

Not a day goes by when her family does not think of her, but last week, a new surge of emotions broke loose again when Ivan Cutajar was found guilty of causing the girls' death by not keeping "a proper look out" and exceeding the speed limit.

Mr Cutajar, who was 23 at the time, was given a two-year jail term suspended for four years and a €4,000 fine - a punishment the family finds "disgracefully" lenient.

But besides the anger and pain at the sentence, the stories in the press and especially footage of the accident shown in the past days alongside news of the judgment were particularly painful.

Mrs Fenech recounted how one particular news report brought her back to the scenes she confronted when she ran to the accident site and saw her daughter sprawled on the road. Strangely, the family did not hear the crash, even though their kitchen door and windows were open onto a terrace that overlooks the road. They were eating a pizza when a family friend rushed into the house and told them that two girls had been run over.

At first Mrs Fenech did not believe her and told her shouldn't joke like that, but when she saw the tears streaming down her face, she realised it was serious and ran down to the spot. She arrived before the ambulance did and knelt next to the first girl she found. As she stroked her face, saying "Graz get up, Graz...get up", she felt someone pull her away and say that it was not her daughter. She realised at that point it was Emma, who had died on impact.

She went over to her daughter but she was not responding either. After a few minutes the ambulance arrived and a nurse took control of the situation and told her not to touch her.

"I thought that I was going to find her sitting on the side of the road with a grazed leg but never as I found her," she said.

Promised bridge still up in the air

The authorities have yet to explain why work on a promised footbridge over the Mrieħel bypass has not yet started, four years after the two teenage girls were killed while crossing the road.

The bridge was promised back in 2006, following the double fatality, by then Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliette, who said a steel structure was expected to be completed the following year.

In fact, the transport authority filed a planning application for the bridge in September 2006 and the planning authority granted the permit seven months ago.

But both the transport authority and ministry have been tight-lipped about the reason behind this delay - questions sent days ago to both entities have not yet been answered. The authority was asked why the bridge was never built, whether there were still plans to build it or anything else that could help residents cross the busy road, and to outline any plans and by when any project was expected to be completed.

The Times also asked the ministry whether there were still plans to build the bridge and when this was expected to be completed.

A number of readers who commented on timesofmalta.com argued that the revenue from the speed cameras on that road should have been used to build the promised bridge.