Unlicensed driver in fatal Mtarfa crash granted bail

A 17 year-old man from Naxxar, accused of the involuntary homicide of Jean Baptiste Azzopardi, 66, and of grievously injuring 61 year-old Joseph Vella following the fatal car accident in Mtarfa last Monday, has been granted bail.

He pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary homicide, involuntary grievous bodily harm, theft of a vehicle, driving without a licence and without insurance, driving a vehicle without the consent of its owner and reckless driving.

The man was at the wheel of his parents’ car when it crashed into a bus stop, demolishing the stone structure and killing Azzopardi.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera granted the accused bail, quoting a judgment by Judge Giovanni Bonello which said that “personal liberty is the rule and not the exception”.

Defence lawyers Giannella DeMarco and Gianluca Caruana Curran requested that the court waive the requirement of bail being deposited in court, as the minor had only recently started work. 

The court accepted this request and ordered the accused be bound by a personal guarantee of €5000, also ordering him not to approach Mtarfa or prosecution witnesses, or leave his home between the hours of 11pm and 6am.

The parents of the accused, who were present in the courtroom, declared that they do not wish to institute criminal proceedings against their son for the theft of the vehicle.

The court also ordered a ban on the publication of the name of the accused as he is a minor.