A 28-year-old driver was found guilty of causing the involuntary death of a motorcyclist in a head-on collision that took place on the main road leading from Rabat to Valletta and was condemned to a €5,000 fine and 480 hours of community service.

Clive Tanti was driving his Chrysler towards Rabat in the early hours of the morning on October 15, 2011 when he collided with the motorcycle that was being driven by Michael Sciberras in the opposite direction. Mr Sciberras was on his way to catch the early morning ferry on the start of a bike trip to Sicily with other biking enthusiasts.

As a result of the high-speed impact, the victim was flung several metres upwards and his lifeless body was discovered hours later at daybreak, entangled among the branches of a tree, the court was told. Officers from the Rabat police station who were called to the scene of the accident had observed extensive damages to the front part of the Chrysler, with fragments of the motorbike still strewn over it. Moreover the court was told that debris from the two vehicles was scattered over a radius of several metres from the point of impact.

The court observed that court experts had determined that the accused had been driving at 154km/hr whereas the victim's speed at the time of impact was estimated to have been at 126km/hr. This meant that both drivers had exceeded the local speed limit of 80km/hr.

The court, presided by magistrate Joseph Mifsud, remarked that owing to the speed of both vehicles, neither of the parties could avoid the impact. It was noted that the accused had been driving wrong side, in a dangerous and negligent manner and had failed to keep a proper lookout.

The court, in deciding upon the guilt of the accused, noted that unfortunately until April 2015 there was a lack of certainty regarding whether the fatality had occurred in Valletta or Mdina Road. By the time this matter was clarified, some of the charges against the accused were time-barred.

While finding the accused guilty of having caused the involuntary death of the biker through negligence, the court noted that the accused had a clean criminal record.

"There is nothing to indicate that the accused is a threat to society, or that he needs to reform his character, or that he is prone to violent behaviour."

Quoting Pope Francis during his meeting with prisoners last November, the court stated that "We put little trust in rehabilitation." Even Archbishop Scicluna at the opening ceremony of this Forensic year had declared that "society is also a victim of the aggressor, but we must strive towards the rehabilitation of he who has erred..."

However, the court wanted to make it clear that "life is not cheap and the taking of life even involuntarily must be considered as a serious and grave fact."

The accused was also condemned to pay within 6 months €3,834 in court expenses.