A mother who lost her 17-year-old daughter in a road accident was outraged that the man found guilty of her death was let off with a suspended sentence.

"The magistrate found him guilty and then gave him a suspended sentence. It's disgraceful, finding him guilty and then giving him a suspended jail term... it's disgraceful," said Marlene Housley, whose daughter Emma died together with her 13-year-old friend Graziella Fenech while crossing the Mrieħel bypass in 2005.

"This man caused the death of two children and he walks away," Mrs Housley lamented.

Ivan Cutajar, who was 23 years old at the time, was found guilty of causing the girls' death by not keeping "a proper look out" and exceeding the speed limit. He was acquitted of negligent driving.

Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona handed down a two-year jail term suspended for four years and a €4,000 fine.

He was driving his blue Ford Focus along Triq is-Sebħ, in Qormi when "something hit the car and the windscreen turned white", as Mr Cutajar himself recounted during the compilation of evidence.

The girls - Miss Housley died on the spot and Miss Fenech succumbed to injuries two days later - were crossing the road on their way to visit a sick friend.

When contacted for her reaction, the mother was beside herself with rage. "He didn't see them! When you drive you are meant to look in front of you. It was not a cat or a dog but two children."

"Nothing will bring closure, no money in the world, no appeal, no jail term, nothing," Mrs Housley said, insisting she and her family expected justice to be done. "We feel justice was not done and justice has to be seen to be done. He just walked out. He didn't even lose his licence. We feel the magistrate felt sorry for him. It is as if the families don't exist. Nobody ever spoke to us," she said.

Mr Cutajar had said that on August 21, 2005, he left Ta' Qali at about 8.45 p.m. after a picnic with his parents. By the time he reached the road where the accident took place it was dark. He was driving normally in fifth gear, at a speed of between 60 and 70 kilometres an hour and was in no particular hurry.

He said that, at one point, "suddenly I felt something hit the front of the car and the windscreen turned white and I pressed the brake..."

The road was lit and the lights had a yellow tinge to them. When he pressed the brake he also pulled the handbrake. "I felt I was shaking and, as I got out of the car, I saw two females on the road about five or six metres away".

The court noted that, in his evidence, Mr Cutajar said that before reaching the traffic lights near the offices of the Malta Financial Services Authority he was driving in third gear. He kept on going because the traffic lights were green and then shifted onto fifth gear when the car in front of him moved onto the inner lane.

"That means that there was speed and, most probably, more than 70 kilometres an hour, or the maximum limit mentioned by the accused," Magistrate Micallef Trigona said. He also highlighted the fact that the accused only realised what had happened on impact. "When considering the visibility offered by the long stretch of road, its adequate surface, the lighting the road is equipped with, the fact that it was dry (it was August), the most likely conclusion is that the accident, even if not exclusively for such reasons, happened because of the speed the accused was driving at and the fact that he was not keeping a proper look out.

Magistrate Micallef Trigona said there was a link between the speed the accused was going at and the accident and, therefore, at the very least Mr Cutajar was guilty of careless driving in terms of article 225 of Chapter 9 of the Criminal Code. However, the court ruled he was not driving negligently.