A number of volunteers who helped the Office of the President organise the ill-fated 2015 Paqpaqli għall-Istrina car show yesterday filed a judicial protest against President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca seeking compensation for the damages they are suffering or may suffer in the future.
Also in court, two of the victims, who last month filed a judicial protest for the President to liquidate damages, yesterday initiated a full-blown case against the President and the Paqpali organisers.
In their judicial letter, also filed against members of the board of governors of the Malta Community Chest Fund and Paul Bailey – the Porsche driver in the accident – the Paqpaqli volunteers asked all those involved to shoulder their responsibility, pay damages to the victims and compensate them for the expenses they were incurring because of their voluntary help.
The volunteers, who include Tonio Darmanin, Alfred Darmanin, Tonio Cini, Winston De Giorgio, Jonathan Tonna, Kevin Perry, Melvin Haber, Ian Cilia Pisani, Jonathan Bruno, Christopher Sultana and David Bugeja, also accused Mr Bailey of being responsible for the accident.
In hard-hitting comments after filing their claim, the volunteers accused the President of not keeping her promises and leaving them out in the cold to face the consequences of the tragic accident.
“We feel very aggravated by the fact that after responding to a personal request by the President to give our time and energy to raise funds for the needy, we ended up being sacrificed to protect those who really should have assumed responsibility.
“We feel very aggravated by the fact that after responding to a personal request by the President to give our time and energy to raise funds for the needy, we ended up being sacrificed to protect those who really should have assumed responsibility for this unfortunate situation,” a spokesman for the volunteers said.
“We are extremely hurt over this. Following the accident, we were assured by the President that her office would be handling the situation. However, soon after, all lines of communication were severed and we were literally left out in the cold,” the spokesman said.
READ: 13 arraigned over Paqpaqli motorshow crash
The volunteers have revealed that it was the President who shot down a suggestion to buy safety barriers for the event. “This is in the minutes, and the reason was that she [the President] felt that they were too expensive.”
The volunteers also hit out at the conclusions of an inquiry led by Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, which found that the President was not involved in the event.
“The conclusions of the inquiry are really strange, as in the report itself, there are minutes of a number of meetings where the President was present and participating with volunteers,” the spokesman said.
Asked for its reaction, the Office of the President said that it will reply “through official channels”.
This is the second set of legal steps which the President’s Office is facing over the Paqpaqli motor show incident at Luqa airport, which left a number of people injured or maimed.
READ: Paqpaqli car crash victims demand damages
In August, some of the victims filed a judicial protest against the President’s Office. Gustaf Cauchi and Iain Aquilina yesterday went a step further and filed a civil case against the President and the Paqpaqli organisers. They claimed the President had not replied to their judicial letter and so they had no other option but to institute a case in court.
Lawyer Alessia Zammit McKeon signed the writs.
READ: Heartbroken father recalls Paqpaqli crash which changed his family for ever
The Times of Malta is informed that discussions between the insurers of the event and some of the victims have started taking place following their judicial protests.
The incident, which left some 30 victims, happened on October 4, 2015, when the driver of a supercar taking part in a demonstration lost control and hit bystanders.