Motorist to pay female bus driver €19,000 for violent assault

A 32-year-old motorist who punched a female bus driver for overtaking him in 2012, leaving her permanently disabled, has been condemned to pay over €19,000 in damages.

Road rage victim Rita Carmen Bonavia had been alone in her Arriva bus in Triq Sant'Andrija, Swieqi, heading towards Pembroke, on 3 August 2012, having just dropped off all the passengers when a refrigerated truck overtook her and blocked the road ahead.

The driver, who was later identified as Christian Zarb, then got out of his vehicle and walked over to Bonavia's window, accusing her of overtaking him twice. The bus driver had asked whether she had caused him any damages and instead of answering, Zarb had reached in through her window and punched her on the shoulder. Bonavia had testified to having warned her assailant not to touch her, but he had ignored this and grabbed her again. The bus driver had quickly closed the window but the man continued to bang his hands it, “screaming and shouting.”

She had pressed the bus' panic button when Zarb had walked around the other side of the bus and started hitting the door. At that point the man took off his trousers telling her that “this was what she needed,” laughed and drove away. 

Zarb had been handed a six-month sentence suspended for two years as a result of a courtroom admission. He was also ordered not to harass the woman for one year or face a €1,000 fine.

In a separate case for civil damages arising from this crime, judge Lawrence Mintoff noted that a medical examination by a court expert had assessed the woman as having suffered an 8% permanent disability as a result of the blow to her shoulder and that she had been unable to work for two years.

The court found Zarb liable for civil damages amounting to €19,362, computing the damages suffered through loss of earnings at €18,812.65 and the damages caused directly by the incident at €549.54.