Director, driver jailed over schoolgirl accident

The director of a transport company and a driver were yesterday found guilty of negligence and imprisoned for six months after a schoolgirl fell out of a van seven years ago and sustained serious injuries.

Daliborka Vrhovac, 13, was on her way home from school when she was thrown out the back door of a tail lift van in Regional Road, Gżira.

She spent a month in hospital but until this year was still undergoing surgery for spinal injuries resulting from the accident.

She had testified in court that she was also partially deafened and had lost all her teeth, as a result of which she spent months drinking her food through a straw.

According to a forensic doctor, her facial injuries have disfigured her.

In handing down judgment yesterday, Magistrate Giovanni Grixti found company owner Emanuel Zarb guilty because he had sent the tail lift van to pick up the children after the coach they normally rode in had developed mechanical faults.

The van, the magistrate pointed out, was only licensed to carry a driver, four seated people and five persons on wheelchairs.

However, with more than two dozen students on board when the accident took place, driver Cedric Sciberras was also found guilty of causing the accident.

He was also found guilty of using a mobile phone at the time of the incident, as testified by the students who were on board the van.

They had told the court that most of them had to stand because of the lack of seats available.

As a result, they stumbled over each other several times until the van suddenly stopped, pushing them backwards.

Since the victim was the last in line, she was thrown outside and onto the street, where she landed in front of another van whose driver desperately tried to avoid her but hit her leg.

In the meantime, the driver only realised what had taken place when the students called out to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

Mr Sciberras and Mr Zarb will also have their driving licences suspended for a year after they are released from prison.