Paul Grech, 52, the owner of a fast food take-away in Għaxaq, has been cleared of having involuntarily caused the death of 48-year-old Marco Gonzi in an accident in 2014.

The victim died in a horrific accident when he got stuck in the shaft of a goods lift.

Mr Grech had been charged with having failed to conduct and record a proper and systematic assessment of health and safety hazards at his take-away, as well as with having failed to install adequate signs and technical measures to reduce the chances of workplace hazards.

As an employer, he was further charged with having failed to ensure that his employees were adequately informed and trained on the proper use of machinery which presented a possible health hazard.

After analyzing all evidence put forward, the court concluded that this had been “an unfortunate case” leaving no doubt as to the fact that the accused had not acted “with the consciousness of the wrongful and unlawful character of his deed.”

The court observed that after the accident the accused had not turned his back upon the victim’s family and needed no prompting to offer his financial support by continuing to hand over the victim’s wage packet to his bereaved relatives.

On the strength of all evidence produced, the court could not “legitimately” find the accused guilty of involuntary murder, but only of having breached health and safety regulations in several ways.

For this the court condemned the accused to a €6,000 fine.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Amadeus Cachia were defence counsel. 

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