The family of an 81-year-old man who drowned following a collision between his fishing boat and a luxury sailing boat has requested the court to order the Police Commissioner to charge the yacht’s owner with manslaughter.

Josephine Gatt Baldacchino yesterday filed a judicial application against the Police Commissioner demanding that yacht owner John Zarb be charged with the manslaughter of her husband Joseph.

Mr Gatt died on July 12 when he was thrown off his 14-foot boat following a collision with the Sorcer, a Maltese-registered Oyster-53 class yacht.

In the application, in which she was joined by her children, Mrs Gatt Baldacchino claimed the yacht “literally kept on going over him”.

An autopsy had established that Mr Gatt died of “asphyxia due to drowning”. His boat was crushed and sank. It was later retrieved from the seabed.

His family said the incident was investigated by the police and an independent inquiry was launched. However, they were “very, very angry” because the police knew who was responsible for the manslaughter but, two months down the line, no action had been taken.

Whenever the family lawyer spoke to the Valletta police, who were investigating the case, he was informed they would file charges against the person in question. This never happened even though the police had arraigned other people over less serious charges, the family said.

Mrs Gatt Baldacchino and her children called on the court to see if there was prima facie evidence and, consequently, order the Police Commissioner to take action against Mr Zarb and file charges, including for manslaughter.

Lawyer Edward Gatt signed the application.