A freelance race driving instructor who sat in the passenger seat of a Porsche Spyder supercar which crashed to the crowd at the Paqpaqli show in 2015 recalled those terrifying moments when testifying in court on Tuesday, and insisted he had nothing to do with the layout of the temporary track.

Thomas Theodoros Bangma testified via video conference at the compilation of evidence against driver and car owner Paul Bailey and the 13 former members of the Paqpaqli ghall-Istrina organizing committee.

In testimony that lasted almost three hours, Mr Bangma said he had been engaged by the event-planning German company Sport Driving GmbH, to travel to Malta together with fellow instructor Frederick Dineuff to participate in the charity event. Upon his arrival, he had been instructed by the local Porsche representative, Sandro Cauchi to assist amateur drivers during rides in two Porsche 911 GT3 models.

On that fateful Sunday afternoon, having completed his assigned task, Mr Bangma said he had been invited by Mr Bailey for a ride in the Porsche Spyder. The latter had been driving car enthusiasts along the temporary track (the airport runway), offering them a taste of high-speed driving.

Mr Bangma said he slipped into the Spyder besides Mr Bailey and as the drive began the sounds of the rushing wind and powerful engine made further communication impossible.

At one point, feeling the rear of the car skid sideways and sensing that the driver was about to lose control, he bent over to place his head between his knees, covered his head with his hands and braced for the inevitable.

“It was an intuitive reaction to the oncoming impact. It all happened in a split second. I have no further recollection,” Mr Bangma explained, recalling only how he had heard people screaming when the Spyder finally came to a standstill.

He had then opened the car door, got out in a state of shock and could not remember exactly what he had done.

Faced with persistent questions by lawyer Roberto Montalto as to his alleged involvement in the design of the track itself, Mr Bangma strongly and repeatedly denied any such involvement, insisting that his role in the Paqpaqli event had been as an instructor in the runs in the 911 GT3 models.

As for the design of the track, he said that was presumably left in the hands of those who had designed it on previous editions, adding that he had been taken to inspect the track before the actual event to make sure it was “appropriate and safe enough.”

Defence lawyer Stefano Filetti pointed out that the other Porsche instructor, Mr Dineuff, had said they Mr Bangma and himself had designed the track bearing in mind the safety of the cars, spectators drivers and passengers.

Even the local Porsche representative who had accompanied the two men from the airport to San Anton Palace where they were residing throughout their stay, had said that the two visitors had come as Porsche instructors and to design the track.

Mr Bangma, however, insisted that he had no say whatsoever in the design of the track, repeating his denial even when asked directly by the magistrate himself.

Earlier on in the sitting, an executive of Chubb Insurance, a global company based in London offering a wide spectrum of coverage to commercial and high net worth clients, testified in another video conference as to the insurance policy issued to Mr Bailey.

Paul Bailey leaves the court after his first arraignment.

She said the motor enthusiast had been granted coverage under a collector’s vehicle policy between June 2013 and June 2017.

Among his many cars was the Porsche Spyder which had been insured for social, domestic and pleasure driving, excluding commercial driving.

The policy, however, had a specific clause which excluded competitive and track racing.

The policy allowed Mr Bailey to drive his car in the UK, the EU and EU-nominated states, which meant that he had no obligation to notify his insurer when taking his car outside the UK as long as he remained in EU territory.

Asked specifically about the Paqpaqli incident, the witness declared that Chubbs had not been informed by their client but had heard of the crash through press coverage.

As a prudent insurer, the company had contacted Mr Bailey’s UK broker and the man’s personal assistant, since Mr Bailey was in hospital at the time, and had subsequently appointed a loss adjuster to carry out a fact-finding mission on the incident.

A request by the prosecution for a copy of this privileged internal report was met with strong objection by defence lawyers Giannella DeMarco and Stephen Tonna Lowell who pointed out that there was no scope for such evidence in the criminal case.

No claim had been lodged by Mr Bailey and such a report was totally extraneous to the case, Dr DeMarco argued, her point supported by Dr Filletti who added that opinions in a criminal case were only admitted in respect of court experts.

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.