The developer of a site along the Strand in Gżira was cleared by the court of any criminal liability for an unfortunate incident which left a student with permanent disabilities.

The case dates back to June 4, 2012, when a 22-year-old French woman, Sofia Audrey, was struck by a piece of metal scaffolding that fell from the site.

Read: Falling pipe badly injures passer-by

A man who witnessed the accident said a two-metre long pipe fell from the third storey of a block of apartments under construction and hit her on the back of the head.

A witness to the accident had also reported to the police that a man got out of a car and picked up the pipe from the ground, throwing it over a low wall, into the site. Some time later, the witness said, a construction worker from inside the site picked up the pipe and took it upstairs.

The court, presided over by magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, concluded that the director of the company, Carmelo Stivala, and the project supervisor, Michael Stivala, had taken all the necessary precautions and had implemented all health and safety regulations, as drawn up by the company’s safety consultant.

The third accused, Moamer Salama, was also acquitted because there was no evidence of any link between his removal of the pipe and the fact that the iron bar fell out from the balcony to the ground. The man had apparently been previously sent to clean the site, lawyer Joe Giglio explained, and was out buying some lunch when it fell.

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