Soldiers taking part in the exercise at Chadwick Lakes in February 2009 during which Gunner Matthew Psaila had died had been asked to speak up if they could not swim but nobody did, one of the accused, Lieutenant Christian Vella, told court this morning.
Lt Vella, who was in charge of the training exercise, and Lance Bombardier Marvic Peregin, who was assisting Gunner Psaila's group, is being charged with the involuntary homicide of Gunner Psaila through negligence. They are also accused of committing a crime they were duty bound to prevent.
Lt Vella testified that, on the day of the tragedy, he was in charge of three sections of soldiers taking part in the exercise, for which planning had begun two weeks earlier.
In all, 29 men divided into three groups were taking part. Each group had an instructor and there were also first aiders on site. Extra ammunition was taken off the men to remove the extra weight as they were going into the water.
Lt Vella said that before the exercise started, he asked the men to speak up if any of them could not swim but nobody did.
He also told the instructors to ask their individual groups the same thing as soldiers could find it difficult to admit a weakness in front of many people.
At that point, a gunner told Lance Bombardier Peregin that he was feeling cold and could not swim that well and Mr Peregin stayed close to the soldier to ensure that nothing happened to him.
Lt Vella said he remained in a position where he could see all three groups at once. At one point he heard shouting coming from the first section and ran down as one of the soldiers suffering from hypothermia was pulled out of the water.
The soldier was asked to strip and get into a sleeping bag and another was also asked to strip and get into the bag with him for the body heat transfer to negate the hypothermia.
All of a sudden he heard somebody shouting ‘Psaila, Psaila’. He started doing a head count and shortly afterwards Gunner Psaila was pulled out of the water.
Somebody started CPR after Gunner Psaila was also put inside a sleeping bag. The Emergency Services were called, Gunner Psaila was put on a stretcher and into a Landrover and somebody started driving in the direction of the hospital.
Asked why he did the exercises in February, Lt Vella said soldiers needed training in the cold and wet weather. He had, through AFM training in Wales, taken part in exercises in temperatures that were much closer to zero than 11 with the wind chill factor in the negative.
Lt Vella said that at the hospital he heard Gunner Psaila’s mother shouting that her son could not swim.
After this incident, the Prime Minister had ordered an inquiry, the results of which he had seen, and a number of changes to the AFM structure were carried out. Solders were now checked to see whether or not they could swim and swimming lessons were given at Tal-Qroqq. Risk assessment was now in writing and the training planning was not carried out by one person but by a department.
Lt Vella said that as the father of two children himself he could completely understand Gunner Psaila’s family and he was angry.
Asked by his own lawyers why he was angry, he said it was because he was being accused with causing the gunner’s death and not the AFM.
Asked by the prosecution and the victim’s lawyer what type of checking did he do to check the water’s temperature, he said he put his feet and hands in to check the water. He did not have equipment to test the temperature.
Asked how he knew the temperature, he said he based this on his own experience.