A court-appointed expert said today that he had concluded that excessive speed was one of the factors which had caused a Porsche 918 Spyder supercar to skid out of control, slamming into a crowd of onlookers and injuring 23 at the 2015 annual Paqpaqli ghall-Istrina car show.

Mechanical expert Mr Zammit also admitted that he had never previously examined a Spyder supercar and he was not aware that the supercar stored electronic data which could be retrieved.

Mr Zammit stressed that his brief had been to assess the damage to the car, including damage of a mechanical nature.

British millionaire Paul Bailey, who had been driving the car, and 12 members of the Paqpaqli organizing committee are facing charges of involuntary grievous bodily harm and damage to third party property through carelessness, negligence and non-observance of regulations.

Mr Zammit explained how in his report, presented to the inquiring magistrate, he had concluded that the accident had been triggered by the car’s excessive speed as well as by the fact that the vehicle had ended up on the wrong side of the track (the airport’s secondary runway).

An inspection of the Porsche Spyder had revealed a broken bolt which had allegedly snapped upon the forceful impact.

Mr Zammit explained how he had been unable to examine another of the super cars involved in the event since these had been sent back overseas while the magisterial inquiry was still ongoing.

He said he had concluded that Mr Bailey’s car was being driven at excessive speed by assessing the damage caused upon impact.

Another court expert, Mario Cassar, explained how the crowd was some 7.3 metres from the track, separated by empty plastic barriers and crowd control barriers. Asked by Dr Joseph Giglio, one of the defence team, why such plastic barriers had been used, the expert pointed out that his brief had been to assess the state of fact.

In reply to further questions by the defence, Mr Cassar said that he had not been asked to investigate the fact the design of the track or the factors which had caused the driver to lose control.

The head of aviation security and a representative from the Ministry for Home Affairs confirmed under oath that the legal notice, granting permission for the runway to be opened to the public on the day of the 2015 event, had not imposed any specifications in relation to the cars participating in the show.

The case continues.