The owner of a yacht that collided with the 14-foot boat of an 81-year-old angler who then drowned has forcefully rebutted claims he acted negligently.

The lawyer of John Zarb issued a statement reacting to a court application by the angler’s family who have challenged the Police Commissioner to charge Mr Zarb with manslaughter.

The angler, Joseph Gatt Baldacchino, died on July 12 when he was thrown off his boat following the collision with the Sorcery, a Maltese-registered Oyster-53 class yacht.

The family charged that Mr Zarb “literally kept on going over” Mr Gatt Baldacchino while in the water. Mr Zarb flatly denies this.

“The implication of this extremely serious and untruthful statement is that Mr Zarb was negligent, resulting in the death of Mr Gatt Baldacchino. Nothing could be farther from the truth.”

Mr Zarb’s lawyer, Ann Fenech, said that on that fateful morning her client exercised all due diligence, prudence, care and attention, paying full regard to all rules and regulations. “Notwithstanding, this unfortunate accident occurred, the full details of which will hopefully emerge following the conclusion of the reports of the two inquiries,” a magisterial inquiry and a preliminary investigation under the Merchant Shipping Act.

Dr Fenech said she was “extremely surprised” by the application because such action was only taken when the police refused to institute proceedings. In fact, she added, there was no evidence that the police refused to take action because investigations had not been concluded yet.

“In addition, the events as they occurred point towards the fact that this was an unfortunate accident at sea with no criminal liability or responsibility on the part of Mr and Mrs Zarb.”

In her statement, Dr Fenech said she hoped the matter would not turn into a trial by the media before the authorities were given time to conclude their investigations.