A man who was injured in the ill-fated Paqpaqli car show in 2015 suffered a 99 per cent permanent disability, a court was told on Monday.
The man’s tragic story and his state of health since a supercar crashed into the crowd emerged during the resumption of the compilation of evidence, against the 13 members of the organizing committee and the driver involved in the crash.
Consultant neurologist Malcolm Vella testified before Magistrate Aaron Bugeja how the patient spent well over a month in intensive care before being transferred to another ward in November 2015, some seven weeks after the incident.
The patient had taken very long to regain consciousness and then
manifested agitated and aggressive behaviour which signalled that all was not well, Dr Vella explained.
The man’s disturbed behaviour was a sign of the extensive cerebral damage had has suffered.
In two years of constant treatment, the patient’s medical progress was
very slow, with clear cognitive deficiencies indicating that his 99%/disability may now be confirmed as permanent.
The man can no longer interact in a normal way with those around him, recalling only his wife’s name and having no idea as to time, date or place.
Earlier on, the victim’s wife also took the witness stand describing how the couple’s marital life changed overnight as her husband, once healthy and happy, had ended up in an old people’s home where he needed round-the-clock assistance.
Today’s sitting also brought to light information which appears to indicate that members of the Board of Administrators of the Malta Community Chest Fund had a meeting with the President’s Chief of Staff before the scheduled court hearings.
Daniel Gera De Petri, one of the board members, explained how the meeting had been convened but stressed that it had not been intended to discuss the subject of the testimony but rather as a briefing on what to expect in court.
Lawyer Giannella de Marco pointed out that this was not the Administrators’ Board of some local village club but the Malta Community Chest Fund.
The core organising committee for Paqpaqli ghall- Istrina, composed of Tonio Darmanin, Tonio Cini, Agostino Degiorgio, Kevin Perry, Melvin Haber, Ian Keith Cilia Pisani, Jonathan Bruno, Julian Mannara, Christopher Sultana, David Bugeja and Brian Gatt, together with Paul Bailey, the Porsche driver, are accused of involuntarily causing grievous bodily harm, as well as damage to various motor vehicles through imprudence, carelessness and non-observance of regulations.
The case continues.
Police inspectors Josric Mifsud, Silvio Magro and Hubert Cini are prosecuting.
Lawyers Giannella DeMarco and Stephen Tonna Lowell are counsel to Paul Bailey.
Lawyer Joe Giglio is counsel to Tonio Darmanin. Lawyer Stefano Filletti is counsel to Brian Gatt and Julian Manara.
Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi is defence counsel for Ian Cilia Pisani, Kevin Perry and Chris Sultana. Other members of the Paqpaqli team are being assisted by Dr Michael Sciriha, Dr Raphael Fenech Adami and Dr Albert Zerafa. Franco Debono, Amadeus Cachia, Roberto Montalto, Michael Grech, Shazoo Ghaznavi, Alessia Zammit Mackeon and Reuben Farrugia are among the lawyers appearing parte civile for the victims.