A highly qualified engineer was engaged by Porsche to offer his expertise in the wake of the 2015 Paqpaqli ghall-Istrina car crash, with the car manufacturer ultimately footing the bill for his work.

Nicholas Durisek, a PhD expert working for Texas-based Dynamics Analysis Group LLC, revealed this when testifying at length via video conference in a two-hour long hearing on Wednesday evening in the compilation of evidence before the Magistrates’ Courts.

The questioning was conducted mainly by parte civile lawyer Michael Grech.

Dr Durisek explained that he came to Malta on October 13, 2015, for three days, after being contacted by Jeffrey Gates, an attorney for Porsche, and hired to “work with the Maltese police on this crash”. On arrival, he met the court-appointed expert Martin Bajada and the Police Commissioner.

A specialist in crash reconstruction and failure analysis, as well as vehicle dynamics and testing, Dr Durisek inspected both the scene of the accident at the Ħal Farruġ runway, as well as the Porsche Spyder 918 hypercar, owned by Paul Bailey, which had crashed into spectators.

All the data – from photos and measurements to a reconstructed 3D model of the vehicle – was ultimately handed over to Porsche.

This information was seized upon by Mr Bailey’s lawyers during their cross-examination of the witness, who confirmed that he had been contacted by Dr Gates, and that it was Porsche who had ultimately footed the bill for his engagement.

Asked by the lawyer whether he was aware that Mr Gates was general counsel worldwide for products liability, Dr Durisek replied in the negative.

“Is it normal that when a Porsche has an accident so many people from all parts of the world fly in, accompanied by the Porsche general counsel on product liability?” lawyer Giannella de Marco questioned.

“It is not uncommon in the work I do for one or more Porsche engineers to be present,” Dr Durisek replied, explaining that the number could vary from five to 10 and clarifying that different experts had been working on the same incident – but not together.

“Porsche engineers were collecting data stored in the system. I collected different data,” the expert said, explaining how he had followed tyre marks at the site of the incident to reconstruct the dynamics of the crash, besides inspecting the crashed Porsche at a dealer’s shed in Gżira.

The witness said he had given “everything to Dr Gates,” or possibly “to the assistant at his office,” further stating that he had not issued a written report.

“Nothing in writing?” was Dr de Marco’s next question, answered with an outright “no”.

Asked whether this was the norm, Dr Durisek said that this was “almost always” the case, providing a comprehensive report only if asked to do so later.

In this case, the expert had handed over all data, namely photos and measurements, to the Porsche general attorney, reporting verbally to him “within some two months” of the visit, during an independent conversation during which he had said that he “had found no fault with the car”.

An intervention by presiding magistrate Aaron Bugeja, seeking clarification on this matter, prompted the witness to confirm that he had also given the collected data to Dr Bajada and another local court expert (Mr Tanti) and also to Dr Gates from Porsche, but that no written report had been issued.

Further questions by the defence revealed that the physical evidence collected by the expert had been preserved for his company. “I still retain that. For my reference.”

Questions about the witness’s awareness of other Porsche accidents in the US and in Sheffield, UK were met with a negative reply.

Turning to the issue of vehicle safety recalls for the Porsche Spyder 918 model, obviously “costing Porsche a lot of money”, Dr de Marco asked whether Dr Durisek was aware of them, pointing out that her client’s car had been targeted by such a recall since the Paqpaqli incident.

Dr de Marco said that such a recall had been to replace “the connecting shafts of the longitudinal and transverse control arms”.

“Recalls by Porsche are outside my knowledge basis,” said Dr Durisek, also stating “I don’t have any influence on these recalls”.

Answering another direct question by the court, the expert explained that he did independent research, “not for Porsche”, clarifying that he would charge Porsche for his time.

“Did Porsche ever outline its conflict of interest in this case? Was this ever mentioned to the court experts or even the Court, because Porsche could be responsible for damages caused?” Dr de Marco pressed on.

“I wasn’t involved in that kind of conversation. There was no such statement in my presence,” the witness replied.

Earlier on, the witness had been asked whether he recalled the presence of “two local lawyers, a male and a female” during his local inspection of the Porsche, when Mr Bailey’s defence lawyers were not.

“There may have been,” came the reply.

The case continues in February.

Superintendent Josric Mifsud together with Inspectors Silvio Magro and Hubert Cini prosecuted. Lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell also assisted Mr Bailey. Lawyer Stefano Filletti was counsel to Brian Gatt and Julian Manara.

Lawyers Joe Giglio and Anna Mifsud Bonnici are counsel to Tonio Darmanin.
Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi is defence counsel for Ian Cilia Pisani, Kevin Perry and Chris Sultana. Other members of the Paqpaqli team are being assisted by Dr Michael Sciriha, Dr Raphael Fenech Adami and Dr Albert Zerafa.

Lawyers Jason Azzopardi, Franco Debono, Amadeus Cachia, Roberto Montalto, Shazoo Ghaznavi, Alessia Zammit Mackeon and Reuben Farrugia are among the lawyers appearing parte civile for the victims.