A young lawyer driving his BMW at speed was to blame for a crash that led to the death of a Canadian woman on holiday in Malta, a court heard yesterday.

Court-appointed traffic accident expert Mario Buttigieg said that the sports car driven by Clayton James Fenech, 28, was so badly damaged that even the chassis was dented. The accident occurred in Triq l-Infetti, near Mdina, on July 16, 2011.

Mr Buttigieg testified in the case against Jean Guy Legendre, 69, of Quebec, who is charged with the involuntary homicide of his 63-year-old wife Renèe Pelland, seriously injuring two people, slightly injuring a fourth and damaging his rented Chevrolet and the BMW.

But the court expert concluded from an examination of photos and the scene of the accident that the BMW driver was responsible.

He was driving much faster

One of the reasons was that he was driving much faster than the driver of the Chevrolet.

Mr Buttigieg also pointed to an inconsistency in photos given to him by Dr Fenech, which were taken after the accident but before the police arrived on the scene.

He said that in one photo there was mud on the BMW yet when he went to view the car at the police compound there was no mud visible.

Mr Buttigieg confirmed the car had been exposed to the elements for two years but said that sort of mud would not come off easily and one would need a power wash to clean it.

The question was where the mud had come from. He added that he was annoyed at the fact that a police sergeant had destroyed the scene of the accident by throwing dirt over the engine oil on the floor.

Lawyer Stefano Filletti, for Mr Legendre, accused Dr Fenech of tampering with the photos and reserved the right to ask for them to be examined by an expert.

In response lawyer Kathleen Grima, appearing for Dr Fenech, said she had seen the photos on her client’s mobile phone and took an oath on their veracity.

The case was deferred.