Court overturns conviction in involuntary homicide of father crossing road with child

The Court of Criminal Appeal has overturned an involuntary homicide conviction handed to a man who ran over and killed a pedestrian in front of his 10-year-old child in 2016

The victim was walking at triq il-Marfa, Mellieha, near Ghadira Bay
The victim was walking at triq il-Marfa, Mellieha, near Ghadira Bay

The Court of Criminal Appeal has overturned an involuntary homicide conviction handed to a man who ran over and killed a pedestrian in front of his 10-year-old child in 2016.

Jonathan Hili had been found guilty of negligently causing the death of Andre Debattista in the horrific traffic accident. Contributory negligence had been found on the part of the victim, who had been crossing the road with his 10-year-old daughter at the time.

The incident took place in Mellieha on 9 July 2016 when Jonathan Hili struck 40-year-old Andre Debattista with his Toyota Passo as the victim was walking at triq il-Marfa, Mellieha, near Ghadira Bay.

Debattista, a father of two girls, died at the scene. He had been crossing the road with one of the children, aged just 10, when he was run over and killed. The child had to be treated for shock.

The court of magistrates had handed Hili a 12-month sentence, suspended for three years, together with a driving suspension in 2020.

Hili had appealed the conviction and the suspended sentence he received, arguing that changes in the presiding magistrate meant that the magistrate who decided the case had barely heard the evidence. In addition, argued lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Franco Debono, the sentence compared unfavourably with that handed down for other, more serious, crimes. The man had suffered PTSD and flashbacks as a result of the accident, added the lawyers.

When one takes into account all the circumstances of the case, including the contributory negligence of the victim and the authorities who had not maintained the road, the great psychological harm suffered by Hili and other factors, there was an argument for the punishment to be reduced.

They also argued that the first court was not reasonable in its conclusions, and therefore the conviction ought to be quashed.

The court of Criminal Appeal, presided by Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera, noted that the place where the accident happened was so dangerous that the police investigating the case had said that the police were expecting an accident to take place. Two days after the incident, pelican lights were installed near the zebra crossing.

The car had been travelling at between 57 and 65km/hr, according to a court expert. The court examined the evidence in detail and concluded that the victim had not looked properly and had not walked inside the white lines at the side of the road at all times because of trees on the pavement.

The charge of reckless driving necessitated that this driving was “deliberately taking risks in driving that one must not take because of the probability of damage to third parties, as well as where one is indifferent to the risks”, said the court. “Certainly, the prosecution did not succeed in proving that the appellant’s driving reached this level [of recklessness],” said the court.

Finding the judgment of the first court as “not safe and satisfactory”, the judge overturned the conviction and declared Hili innocent of all charges. It also ordered that a copy of the judgment be served upon the minister of transport to avoid similar tragedies.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Jason Azzopardi were defence counsel.