The “wounds” of the family of a jogger who died in a traffic accident two years ago have been ripped wider and deeper following the suspended sentence given to the driver last week.

The close-knit Formosa family was hoping for “some form of closure” and consolation from the sentence but, instead, it was now angry and hurt.

“We were hoping we would finally close a part of that chapter but, instead, we opened it wide,” distraught relatives of the victim said. “The sentence just did not reflect the value of life that is put on such a pedestal.”

Kevin Ellul, 27, sent Emmanuel Formosa flying over a rubble wall when he drove on the wrong side of Durumblat Road, in Mosta, in the early hours of the morning, hitting the jogger from behind.

On Thursday, he was handed a jail term, suspended for three years, and his driving licence was suspended for one after the magistrate took into account the fact that the victim was wearing black.

The family believes “he could have been wearing Christmas lights and it would not have made a difference”. The driver crossed lanes, the jogger’s relatives pointed out.

“If someone had to run him over, it should have been a driver on his lane,” they said, adding that he wore reflective shoes and that the contrast of the black clothes against the rubble wall and the lit road dropped the argument.

Magistrate Edwina Grima said she was perplexed about how the accident happened, given no plausible reason had come to light during proceedings. She said she could not understand how the accused had ended up on the wrong side of the road and hit a man without realising and that she could only be sure he momentarily lost his concentration.

The story unleashed a barrage of criticism on timesofmalta.com, with readers expressing shock at the leniency and inadequacy of the suspended sentence for “manslaughter” and disappointment at the message it sent to drivers.

Mr Formosa, a 59-year-old fitness freak and family man, was on his regular jog, sticking to his lane and moving against the traffic to be aware of what was heading his way, his family highlighted.

But after a long night out, Mr Ellul for some reason crossed to the wrong lane of an empty, lit road, the court found, hitting the jogger.

Although the car sustained extensive damage, the driver had no idea what had happened, returning to the scene at a later stage, the family recounted, arguing he should have headed straight to the police.

Mr Formosa died on impact, leaving behind two children and a wife, who is as devastated today as she was on that tragic January 20, 2008.

Two years later, Nikolina Formosa has found no peace. She has in no way filled the “massive void” and cries profusely as she says she lost “a diamond”.

“If it were not for my children and my grandchild, I would have nothing to live for,” she says about the death of the man who was “my friend, my lover...”

Mrs Formosa fell apart when her daughter told her the outcome of the court case. “I always thought I would leave it in God’s hands because I am not the one to judge. But I am left empty...”

She did not even read the report in the newspaper because she was “afraid” to face the news.

On the contrary, her daughter Alison, who has since had a son named after her father, has been following the case in detail, never missing a sitting and even waiting up to two hours on the back-breaking court benches before it started to catch every single word.

The 32-year-old has a file of meticulous notes and research, which she refers to as she insists the sentence was simply “not enough; nowhere close! To be honest, I expected the suspended sentence. It is typical. But I was hoping for more.

“Whatever we do, we won’t bring him back. We would have just released the pain in our hearts and had some form of justice. It should have been an example to society. The message should be that if you make a mistake, you have to pay for it and accept responsibility for your actions,” says a composed Alison.

“The conclusion that (the driver) slept at the wheel was not accepted but I tend to believe it. It explains why he was in the wrong lane and did not see what he hit,” Alison says, pulling out photos of the road to show it did not have any potholes.

The broken Formosa family is not after blood but insists that suspending the man’s licence for one year was “ridiculous” for them.

“We did not want the driver to be locked away forever. It is not about revenge because we are never going to see our father again. We just want to feel his life had some value and we do not feel that was the case.

“They say life is precious. Is that the weight they are giving it: a suspended jail term and licence? Is that the value of life?

“If he behaves for three years, the driver will get off scot-free. You have to be harsh to set an example. If you slap a kid on the wrist for doing something wrong, you can’t expect him not to do it again,” Alison says.

Huddled together on their sofa yesterday, the family took the opportunity to recall what a great man Mr Formosa was, summing him up as a “true gentleman, trustworthy, a workaholic and totally committed to his family. A quiet man, he was always around if you needed him and he never whinged”.

One of their regrets is that Alison’s son would never be able to soak up these values.

Her parents also had so many plans for the future and Mrs Formosa was looking forward to his eventual retirement and the trips her husband promised they would enjoy together. They were scheduled to go on holiday a week after the accident and he would have done the half marathon a month later.

That morning, as usual, Mr Formosa got up at about 4.30 a.m. The “considerate and caring” man would put the key in the lock not to bang the door shut and leave it in the letter box so he would not have to ring the bell on his return.

On that day, however, he never went back and “the only consolation we can cling on to is that he did not see the car approaching so he had no fear; he died on impact and he was doing what he loved... Of course, at the time, the driver knew none of that,” Alison says, handing over a long list of races her father had participated in throughout his life.

But for Mrs Formosa, the fact that the family man died alone still breaks her heart. “Whatever he did, he did it for us. And he was left to die alone in that field. It just kills me,” she sobs.

The widow visits the accident site twice a week, laying flowers, lighting candles and even cleaning the area.

“They should also look at the family left behind and put a value on their life too. We were the ones to have to tell my mother her husband would never return home,” Alison says.