A motorist who seriously injured a man because of his high speed driving on the coast road has been fined €4,000 and had his driving licence suspended for six months.

The crash took place at 11.30am on June 27, 2014 close to the junction with the road to Maghtab.

Clint Mifsud, 28, from Hamrun was driving his Kia C'eed towards Salina when a cement mixer truck suddenly turning towards the landfill, crossing his lane.  

Mr Mifsud swerved into the opposite lane to avoid impact with the truck. He narrowly missed a van carrying aluminium apertures only to crash head-on into  a small Perodua car driven by accountant Godwin Marmara.

The car was pushed off the road with the impact and Mr Marmara' was knocked senseless. He regained consciousness a while later and managing to slide out of the smoking wrecked car where he was assisted by bystanders until medical help arrived.

He was treated and discharged from hospital shortly after, but had to be rushed back within four days, suffering internal haemorrhage caused by a very serious hip bone injury which necessitated a three-month stay in hospital.

Despite undergoing a complex bone replacement abroad, Mr Marmara' ended up with one leg shortened by 2cm. His mobility was severely hampered and he needed crutches to move about.

Mr Mifsud, the driver of the C'eed, was charged with having caused involuntary grievous injury through his dangerous and reckless driving, as well as with having caused damage to third party property.

In the course of the proceedings before Magistrate Josette Demicoli, two eyewitnesses testified as to how they had narrowly missed being hit by the accused’s car. They had been inside the van just behind the ReadyMix truck when the Kia Ceed suddenly appeared in their lane.

There was no braking sound but only a loud noise as the Kia crashed into the victim’s car, the court was told.

On the basis of all the evidence put forward, the court observed that the accused must have been driving at an excessive speed, far greater than the 60km/hour as alleged when testifying.

Had he been going at moderate speed and had he kept a proper lookout, the accident would have been avoided since he would have managed to brake. The extensive damage suffered by the victim’s car, which knocked down a wall, indicated that the impact had been “very strong.”

Besides, the court noted that there had been inconsistencies in the accused’s testimony.

The court declared the accused guilty of all charges and imposed a €4,000 fine.

Mr Mifsud was also banned from driving for six months.

Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi appeared parte civile.