A motorist who caused the death of an elderly couple after crashing into their car while speeding in the St Paul’s Bay Bypass seven years ago was given a suspended jail term and fined €4,000 by a court.

Edward Bonnici of Naxxar, who was 18 at the time, had been accused of the involuntary death of Patricia Mitchell and her husband Barry.

The incident occurred on the night of December 12, 2009 when the accused, who was behind the wheel of a Peugeot 407, lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the side of a Daewoo Matiz at high speed, while approaching the Erba’ Mwieżeb roundabout at the end of the bypass.

The impact was so huge that the car with the elderly couple inside was thrown a considerable distance away and landed in the centre of the roundabout.

In its decision, the court presided by Magistrate Josette Demicoli noted that the accused had a clean criminal record and had been negatively affected by the incident and had fully understood the consequences of his behaviour.

In view of this it felt that it should not impose an effective prison term but opted for a two years imprisonment suspended for three years, as well as a fine of €4,211. In addition, he was banned from driving for a two-year period.