The reason for the death of Gunner Matthew Psaila following a military exercise in Chadwick Lakes in February 2010 lay with the operational procedures of the Armed Forces of Malta, and one should not look for scapegoats, lawyers Joe Giglio and Steve Tonna Lowell said this morning.

They were making their final submissions in court in the case against their clients Lieutenant Christian Vella and Lance Bombardier Marvic Peregin who stand charged with Gunner Psaila's involuntary homicide through negligence. They are also accused of  committing a crime they were in duty bound to prevent.

Replying to the arguments made by the lawyers of the gunner's family, Drs Giglio and Tonna Lowell said the family were contending that once a tragedy happened, someone had to be held responsible.

This type of argument did not hold water legally. The family’s reference to negligence was academically satisfying but not correct.

Everyone, including the defence, had noted that no standard operational procedures were in place and that these were only implemented following the tragedy, they said.

Dr Giglio said that a comment by the family’s lawyer, Michael Tanti Dougall, that a message had to be sent that life was not cheap was inappropriate as it was never alleged that life was cheap or that the accused treated it as such.

The magisterial inquiry into the tragedy referred to the lack of safety measures implemented by the AFM and court-appointed expert Mario Scerri had concluded that Gunner Psaila could not swim.

The soldier was treated like everyone else who knew how to swim as he did not put up his hand when the group were asked if they could swim or not.

The blame, Dr Giglio said, lay with the AFM and not the accused.

He noted that Gunner John Cachia, who was in charge of safety, had not been charged.

Soldiers, he said, had to be trained for any eventuality and the accused had taken the necessary precautions for possible hypothermia.

Brigadier Maurice Calleja had testified that if Gunner Psaila could swim, the tragedy would not have happened.

“We should not be looking for a scapegoat here when report after report exonerated the accused. It is a sin that a tragedy like this had to happen for changes to be made at the AFM.”

“It's a tragedy not only for the family of Gnr Psaila but also for the accused,” Dr Giglio said.

He said that the parte civile were missing the wood for the trees because this was a case of misadventure.

It was not the point whether Gnr Psaila had hypothermia or not but whether the accused could prevent his drowning when they did not know he could not swim.

Judgement has been set for September 25.