Teacher Dorianne Camilleri stands to benefit from the changes to the law on traffic accidents.

The lawyer of a woman sentenced to five years in prison for involuntarily causing the death of a man in a traffic accident welcomed Parliament’s decision to change the law, sparing his client from serving time.

“Common sense has prevailed,” Arthur Azzopardi said when contacted yesterday, after MPs voted to remove the minimum five-year prison sentence in accidental traffic accidents that involved more than one victim.

The House Committee for the Reconsideration of Bills approved an amendment to the Traffic Regulation Ordinance (Amendment) Bill following the uproar sparked by the imprisonment of 34-year-old teacher Dorianne Camilleri.

The reaction to the sentence also saw more than 27,000 people signing a petition requesting a change in the law.

Ms Camilleri was convicted of the involuntary homicide of Alfred Zahra, 64, of Msida, and of critically injuring his sister, Carmela Zahra, 75, in an accident on the Rabat road in May 2011.

The court’s decision raised a storm of protest, with people on the social media making comparisons with far more lenient court decisions for similar cases. The presiding magistrate was, however, going by what the law lays down and the punishment was at the lower end of the scale.

In criminal law, the accused always gets the punishment which is most favourable

Ms Camilleri appealed and, following the outcry, the government and the Opposition jointly proposed to change the law which laid down that if someone died in a traffic accident, the driver found guilty of causing the incident can be sentenced to a maximum of four years in jail. If a second person was injured in the same accident, even just slightly, the punishment would shoot up by a further six years to a maximum of 10 years in prison.

In line with the changes, the presiding magistrate now enjoys more discretion when determining punishment.

Ms Camilleri will immediately benefit from the change in the law, though the punishment was different at the time of the incident.

“In criminal law, the accused always gets the punishment which is most favourable. Thus, in this case, the new law will apply,” Dr Azzopardi said.

Since the conviction, two new witnesses have come forward and said they were willing to testify in the woman’s defence during the appeal. One was former finance minister Tonio Fenech, who is insisting the driver could have never seen the people she hit as they emerged from behind a van.