One of the people involved in the design of the track used in the ill-fated Paqpaqli motor show of 2015 told a court on Monday that he had not known where the spectators would be.

He also pointed out that the temporary circuit was designed for Porsche 911 GT3 vehicles, not the Porsche Spyder which eventually crashed. 

Several people were injured, some of them critically when a Porsche supercar being used in demonstration runs on the temporary track on the airport runway ploughed into the crowd.

Court action is being taken against the driver, Paul Bailey, and the organising committee.

Freelance driving instructor Frederick Dineuff, who works for German company Sport Driving GmbH, explained to the court via video conference how he had been engaged by the local representative for Porsche to perform some demo laps with potential and existing customers during the charity event.

READ: Paqpaqli: Lawyers ask why track designers were not arraigned

He had travelled to Malta on October 1, 2015 together with fellow instructor Thomas Theodoros Bangma. They were met at the airport by Sandro Cauchi, local Porsche representative, and accompanied to San Anton Palace where they were offered accommodation during their three-day stay.

Asked to recall his testimony before the inquiring magistrate in the wake of the incident, where he had said that he had been involved in the design of the track but had nothing to do with the barriers around it, Mr Dineuff explained how “someone from the organization” had supplied them with a “blueprint” of the track used in the previous year.

He, however, could not recall who that person was.

Mr Dineuff explained how he had fine-tuned the plan, introducing two chicanes and braking zones as safety features to reduce speed since there would be amateurs driving two Porsche 911 GT3 models and clocking up high speed, catering for a maximum speed limit of 200km/hr.

“Our instructions were to set up a safe track so as to ensure that customers would have a good time,” he said, stressing however, that they had “nothing to do" with safety measures such as barriers around the track.

“We didn’t know where the spectators would be,” he said, pointing out that there had been no communication with the organizers but only with the local representative for Porsche.

He said that the track had been designed specifically for the GT3 models.

“No accident happened when we drove, not one single incident,” Mr Dineuff stressed. “It was never communicated to me that anybody else would use our track. Never.”

READ: Paqpaqli crash: Supercar was being driven without traction control

Asked, in the light of earlier testimony where he had allegedly voiced concern with his colleague that the barriers were not enough to protect the public, Mr Dineuff insisted “With our GT3s we didn’t have any accident.”

“Did you at any point draw attention to the fact that the track was designed for GT3s not the Spyder?” defence lawyer Giannella de Marco asked.

“I don’t recollect if I may say so because I was busy with my customers. I don’t recall if I mentioned it to Sandro or anyone else," he said.

Asked by the court whether Paul Bailey had followed the same driving procedure as him and his colleague, Mr Dineuff replied: “It was a different manoeuvre from ours. He went straight to the chicane, he went faster, much faster it seemed to me.” 

Lawyers want statements given without lawyers present struck down

Later in Monday's court sitting, lawyers for Mr Bailey and the 13 former members of the Paqpaqli ghall-Istrina core committee raised a number of legal arguments, pointing out weaknesses and shortcomings in the case as instituted by the prosecution.

Lawyers Stephen Tonna Lowell and Giannella De Marco, assisting Mr Bailey, pointed out that their client had been asked to testify more than once in the course of the magisterial inquiry, and this in between facing neurosurgical interventions for the injuries sufffered in the crash.

His statements, having been given without the assistance of a lawyer, should be declared inadmissible by the court, in the light of a strong line of case-law on this subject.

The lawyers also requested the separation of proceedings in respect of Mr Bailey whose “defence is logically different from that of the other co-accused.”

All answers given by witnesses and experts in respect of the other co-accused, should be declared inadmissible vis-à-vis Paul Bailey, his lawyers argued, as were the reports drawn up by four court-appointed experts, since these had been “contaminated” by the foreign Porsche experts called in to assist in the inquiry.

Specific reference was made to the expert appointed to report on the dynamics of the accident.

Court expert 'has no expertise'

“It is unacceptable to have an expert draw up a report and deliver an opinion when he has no expertise on the matter,” argued Dr Tonna Lowell, labelling the expert in question as “manifestly incompetent since he possesses no qualification save for a one-year evening course on motor mechanics.”

Lawyer Joe Giglio, assisting Tonio Darmanin, likewise raised the inadmissibility of the statements released by his client without legal assistance.

This argument was taken a step further by lawyer Stefano Filletti who noted that the discarded statements had to include all documents requested of the accused when there had been no lawyer to assist them.

“The right to a fair hearing extends to statements and opinions based thereon,” Dr Filletti stressed.

Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi pointed out that none of the experts and laboratories employed in the gathering of evidence were in conformity with ISO standards.

Magistrate Aaron Bugeja granted the lawyers for the victims one month within which to rebut these arguments in writing, so that a decision could then be taken by the court. 

The case continues in May.

 

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