A nurse accompanying the ambulance summoned to assist a young soldier in distress during an exercise on a cold February day last year was told by the victim’s colleagues that Gunner Matthew Psaila had been submerged for 20 minutes.
Nurse Margaret Lia testified that the information was given to her as they were transferring the unconscious gunner from an army Land Rover to the ambulance.
Gunner Psaila, 19, died three days after he found himself in difficulties during an army training exercise in Chadwick Lakes on February 13, 2009. The accident occurred when soldiers were making their way through a tunnel in freezing cold water.
The nurse was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Lieutenant Christian Vella, 27 of Żabbar who was in charge of the training exercise, and Lance Bombardier Marvic Peregin, who was assisting Gunner Psaila’s group of soldiers. They stand charged with the involuntary homicide of the soldier through negligence and committing a crime they were in duty bound to prevent.
Ms Lia said she was at the Emergency Department at Mater Dei Hospital when, at about 9.45 a.m., they received a call that someone had drowned at Chadwick Lakes. As they were on their way there, the people inside the ambulance saw a Land Rover approaching flashing its headlights and sounding its horn.
The soldiers had decided to meet the ambulance halfway and intercepted the medical team a short distance away from Chadwick Lakes. When she looked inside the army vehicle, she said she saw the naked body of a young man “who looked lifeless”, wrapped in a sleeping bag.
The witness said the soldiers who were in the vehicle told her Gunner Psaila had spent 20 minutes under water. He was transferred to the ambulance stretcher and they administered CPR until they got to the hospital.
In a previous sitting, Magistrate Audrey Demicoli, who is presiding over the case, heard forensic pathologist Mario Scerri explaining that Gunner Psaila had died of hypothermia and not drowning and his core body temperature was three degrees below normal. The victim’s core body temperature was 93.4°F – very low – and had symptoms of hypothermia, which overtook him during the exercise.
The symptoms of hypothermia are uncontrollable shivering, weakness and loss of coordination, confusion, drowsiness and slowed breathing.
Dr Scerri explained that although the young soldier had swallowed copious amounts of water, which filled his lungs, that was not the cause of death. There were other complications in the lungs caused by the dirty water. When he went on-site, Dr Scerri said, he saw rats swimming in the water.
The case continues.
Lawyer Joe Giglio and Gianluca Caruana Curran appeared for the accused.
Police Inspectors Joseph Agius and Robert Vella prosecuted.