The heirs of a man who was run over and killed while jogging along a road in Mosta in 2008 were yesterday awarded nearly €85,000 in damages.

Nikolina Formosa, Alison Sant’ Angelo and Darren Emanuel Formosa, as heirs of the late Emanuel Formosa, filed their action for damages against the driver Kevin Ellul.

The First Hall of the Civil Court heard that Mr Ellul was driving along Dun Rumblat Street towards Attard as Mr Formosa ran in the opposite direction wearing dark clothes. At the time of the accident it was dark.

Mr Justice Anthony Ellul concluded that Mr Ellul had crossed over to the wrong side of the road and hit Mr Formosa who was thrown into a field on impact.

The court added that it was true that Mr Formosa was wearing dark clothes and that pedestrians were obliged to take precautions when making use of a road. However, this fact had not contributed to the accident. Mr Formosa was not killed because he was wearing dark clothes but because of negligence on the part of Mr Ellul who had lost control of his car and crossed over on to the opposite side of the road.

At no time did Mr Ellul give an explanation as to why he had lost control of the car.

Mr Ellul was found to be responsible for the accident and was ordered to pay the heirs €84,570 in damages.