Miriam Pace contractor wants involuntary homicide hearing suspended over Sofia inquiry

Lawyers defending one of the men charged over the 2020 fatal building collapse which claimed the life of Miriam Pace want to suspend hearings in the case against them, until the conclusion of the public inquiry into the death of Jean Paul Sofia only announced last week.

Builder Nicholas Spiteri, 44 and comtractor Ludwig Dimech, 39, stand accused of involuntary homicide amongst other charges.

Pace died under the rubble of her own home, in Triq Joseph Abela Scolaro, Ħamrun after nearby construction work caused it to collapse.

Four men were charged in connection with the fatal collapse, but only Spiteri and Dimech opted to have their case decided by a jury.

This morning before Madame Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera, who will be presiding over the men’s trial, defence lawyer Franco Debono asked the court to await the outcome of the public inquiry recently announced by the Prime Minister.

That inquiry would conduct an “examination of conscience” about the State’s shortcomings with regards to the construction sector and those shortcomings could also be relevant in the Miriam Pace case, argued Debono.

Debono said he disagreed “in principle” with public inquiries, opining that the ideal forum for investigations is the magisterial inquiry, but once the State had decided to go down that route, it might churn up results which are relevant to this case, in addition to the shortcomings already identified during the magisterial inquiry into Pace’s death. He reminded the court that he had suggested reforms in the Magisterial inquiry system during his time as an MP, many years ago.

The lawyer asked for a long adjournment, arguing that the current political climate was not conducive to making submissions, adding that the defence was also currently evaluating other options.

Prosecutors Etienne Savona and Abigail Caruana Vella from the Office of the Attorney General, objected to the request for a long adjournment.

The judge made it clear that she was not willing to adjourn the sitting to a distant future date solely to await the outcome of a public inquiry.

The court adjourned the case to September 28 for the defence to make its submissions on the preliminary pleas.

Spiteri is being represented by lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri. Lawyers Roberto Montalto and Michael Sciriha are defence counsel to Dimech.