A developer was yesterday sentenced to 30 months in jail after he was found guilty of causing the death of a two-year-old boy when the toddler fell down a shaft in a basement garage.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke described Francis Mamo, 56, from Naxxar, as “imprudent, careless and negligent”, adding that a man of his age could have easily envisioned something going wrong by leaving the shaft uncovered. Mr Mamo is a director of Oman Construction Ltd.

The child, Gabriel Agius, was with his mother Vannessa in the basement garages of a building in Dawret in-Niżla Street in Żebbuġ on April 16, 2008.

Testifying, Ms Agius said she had gone downstairs to park her car in the garage and Gabriel was with her all the time. As they walked out of the complex, they noticed water dripping from the ceiling and went to the floor above to see where it was coming from.

As they looked up to find the source of the water, she suddenly heard a thump and her son was gone.

The thump was his head hitting the bottom of the shaft.

Ms Agius said that having worked with nurses, she knew that the best thing to do was not to move him and she screamed out for help.

Asked about other dangerous openings in the building, she said there was another one leading to a stairwell on the outside of the block.

Despite the local council having complained, nothing had been done until the police intervened and put up barricades.

Magistrate Clarke noted that the defence lawyer had argued that Ms Agius was also responsible for the accident because she had not held her son’s hand when she knew he had the propensity to run off.

The magistrate said Gabriel died because he fell into a shaft hole that was meant to be covered. She found Mr Mamo guilty of involuntary homicide.