The heirs of a man who drowned when a boat sank in the channel between Sicily and Malta have been ordered to pay the owners of the boat nearly €20,000 by way of compensation.
Mr Justice Joseph R. Micallef, presiding over the First Hall of the Civil Court, found Fathi Snoussi responsible for the damage suffered by Anthony and Josephine Borg who had purchased the speedboat from him a month before the November 1998 incident.
Mr Snoussi stored the boat in a garage in Marsascala because the new owners had nowhere to keep it.
The court heard how on November 26, 1998, Mr Snoussi and another man lowered the Chadron speedboat into the sea and left for Sicily without informing the port authorities about their movements.
Interrogated by the police, Mr Snoussi’s partner confirmed that he had called her from his mobile to tell her that the speedboat was taking in water and that they were sinking. In fact, both men drowned.
The speedboat was recovered by the Italian authorities.
The court noted that the circumstances of the incident were still “hazy” and referred to suspicions by local and Italian police authorities that the boat was used for human trafficking.
Notwithstanding this, Mr and Mrs Borg still lost the speedboat they had purchased a month earlier and the court therefore ordered Mr Snoussi’s heirs to pay them €19,800 by way of compensation – the same amount they had paid for the vessel.