Two contractors who caused the death of an 84-year-old woman when they forged ahead with excavation too close to her house were yesterday fined €4,000 each.
The tragic structural failure of the house in Cathedral Street, Sliema, occurred on April 12, 2000, as a digger ate away at the foundation bedrock, leaving the stone flush with one of its boundary walls.
The sub-contractor, Raymond Calleja, 45, said he knew he had to keep two-and-half feet from the boundary wall, but building contractor Carmel Micallef, 46, threatened that he would not get paid if he did not excavate the stone.
Both men were charged with causing the death of Rita Vella and seriously injuring her son, Joseph, who was 45 at the time.
Architect Phillip Azzopardi was also charged but exonerated after Magistrate Miriam Hayman noted he had told the two men to keep their distance but they ignored him.
Mrs Vella and her brother Anthony Mifsud, 77, were in the kitchen while her son was asleep upstairs. His aunt Carmen Pecorella then woke up, worried about fissures and cracks in the house.
They both left and told the digger operator to stop and look at the cracks. He suggested calling the architect and leaving the house immediately.
Suddenly they heard cracking noises and the house seemed to explode.
A wall fell on top of Mrs Vella, crushing her under the rubble, while the rest of the family made it out in time. Mr Vella suffered a broken arm and needed sutures to his head while his mother died shortly afterwards.
Mr Micallef, from Żebbuġ, and Mr Calleja, of Mosta, admitted that they failed to keep the safety distance from the boundary wall.
Mr Micallef said that, once the cracks appeared in the house, he ordered the work to stop and started calling to book a hotel for the Vella family when the house collapsed. In cross-examination he claimed they did not expect to find such weak and flaky rock there.
Yet Mr Calleja testified he was threatened by Mr Micallef that if he failed to excavate flush with the boundary wall he would not get paid. He said that his job was to clean up the site and excavate.
Magistrate Miriam Hayman found the two contractors guilty of causing the death of Mrs Vella and seriously injuring her son after they admitted to failing to adhere to regulations.
She acquitted Mr Azzopardi after she found they ignored his advice. Lawyer Joseph Giglio appeared for Mr Azzopardi while Emmanuel Mallia represented Mr Micallef and lawyer Luciano Busuttil appeared for Mr Calleja.