When 14-year-old Sami Bouslama saw his younger brother engulfed in flames in the abandoned Qawra room they usually played in, he immediately stepped into the fire to try to pull him out but could not quite get there.
It was November 5, 2006. His 13-year-old brother, Alured, had lit the fire using fuel to burn unwanted planks of wood, which a gang of children had dumped in the room to spite him, when his foot became trapped between two flagstones.
As the fire surrounded him, he called out to his brother for help but the fierce flames did not allow Sami to save him.
“I immediately jumped in. I didn’t think about it,” Sami, now 18, told The Sunday Times.
“At first I had to turn back as the flames were too hot. I grabbed a cotton jacket and put it over my face and went back inside. I was very close to him but didn’t manage to grab hold of him,” he said, as he pointed towards the scars caused by burns to his right leg.
Almost four years after the incident, Sami received a court summons. He was to be charged with involuntarily causing his brother’s death on November 5, 2006.
“When the police officer knocked at my door to give me the summons I thought: Are you serious? After four years? You turn up now?” he said.
Since the accident Sami has battled with the psychological trauma of seeing his brother burnt to death. Now that his life was back on track, the court case threatened to rekindle the painful past.
After consulting lawyers, Sami and another boy – who was with him during the incident – decided to plead guilty and were each conditionally discharged for two years.
“We chose to plead guilty rather than face a never-ending court case that would reopen everything,” he said. The guilty plea also meant that Sami’s version of events was never heard by the courts.
His mother, Josann Darmanin, said: “Sami went through a lot. I know he went through hell. His father blamed him because he was older than Alured and should have taken care of him. I know that Sami is not that crafty and Alured was always the mastermind of everything.”
She recalled how, on the day of the fire, she was at home in Buġibba with a friend when her two sons asked if they could walk home their friend who lived round the corner.
It was 8.50 p.m. on a Sunday and the family planned to watch television together at 9 p.m.
Alured was due to start attending a new crafts school the following day so they were meant to watch the programme and go straight to bed.
Before leaving home, Alured asked for Lm2 (€4.65) which his mother did not give him since he had already received his pocket money. But her friend gave him the money without knowing what he wanted it for.
When the boys failed to return by 9.30 p.m. Ms Darmanin tried reaching them on their mobile phones but Sami had left his at home and Alured was not answering.
Sometime later, she received a phone call asking her to report to the Qawra police station. She thought the call was related to her job, since she was a local warden.
She agreed to go reluctantly since her youngest daughter, Saiann, who is now 15, was asleep.
A police officer picked her up and, on the way to the station, noticed fire engines and an ambulance. But still she thought nothing of it and assumed it must be a busy night for police.
When they arrived near the Qawra church, the sergeant and a man approached her and escorted her to the station.
When they walked into the sergeant’s office, the sergeant grabbed a packet of tissues and tossed them at Ms Darmanin, telling her she would need them.
“As soon as I was going to start talking, Sami ran towards me. He cried and I asked him where Alured was.
“The officer said he was no longer with us. He had died. In the meantime I looked at Sami’s leg that was all burnt. He was taken to hospital and spent two months in a wheelchair because of the burns,” she said.
“I found out the man next to me was a priest who was there to console me. I was worried as my daughter was still asleep at home. I didn’t know what to do. My mind went blank. I sent a message to my relatives and friends to call in the morning,” she said.
After relaying the tragic news to her estranged husband, she agonised over how to break the news to her father who was very close to Alured.
The following day, Alured’s friends did not go to school but gathered at her home. She had to go to the morgue to identify her son but, once there, the forensic expert did not let her see him because his body was badly burnt.
Numb to the tragedy unfolding around her, she forged ahead with the funeral preparations.
The Qawra church was packed with friends and there were several senior citizens who turned up since Alured used to run errands for them on his bicycle.
The next few months were very tough for the family to get through. “I don’t think I would have made it without the support of my father, Alfred,” Ms Darmanin said.
With time she started piecing together what had happened in the room, with the help of her son Sami.
That night Alured had wanted the Lm2 to buy some petrol. Alured and his friends had arranged the room to turn it into a den. They laid a carpet and played with their bicycles there.
“A rival gang had placed wooden pellets there and Alured wanted to burn them and clean up the next day after school,” she said.
With tears in her eyes she explained how he had lit the fire alone while Sami and the other boy were outside. When Sami realised what was happening he tried in vain to save his brother. When the firemen arrived, they dragged Sami out of the room.
About a week after the accident she went back to the room. “I found Alured’s footprint between two stones where his foot got stuck. I also found his burnt mobile phone, which I still have,” she said.