A young man who had been jailed for two years after he was found guilty of reckless driving and involuntary killing a passenger in a car crash in August 2005 had his two year jail term converted into a three year suspended jail term on appeal. He also had his driving licence suspended for three years.

Ludwig Micallef, of San Gwann, had crashed into a wall at 100 kilometres an hour when he tried to avoid a man-hole cover lying in a shallow depression in the road in a bid to protect his low-profiled car, but he ended up smashing into the wall of a house on the Coast Road.

As a result, passenger Clifford Micallef died from a fractured skull.

Mr Micallef, who was 18-years-old when the accident happened, had admitted to driving at speed. He said he lost control of the vehicle when he tried to avoid the hole in the road.

Mr Micallef appealed the sentence saying that it was manifestly disproportionate.

In his judgement today, Mr Justice Michael Mallia took into consideration Mr Micallef's age and noted that although it was true that a man had lost his life as a result of his careless driving, the death was more attributable to youth recklessness rather than criminal behaviour.

Mr Micallef had a clean police record so it was not the case of sending him to prison to reform. There was also no doubt that the consequences of his driving would remain with him for the rest of his life. This was punishment in itself and no prison term would cancel this fact.

Mr Justice Mallia noted that in cases of involuntary homicide, the courts had always been willing to condemn the action but when it came to condemning the person, they always looked at the particular circumstances of the case and how much the person involved leaned towards criminality.

In this case the court was satisfied that the accused was not a criminal.

This had been an unfortunate incident with tragic consequences, he ruled.