Appeals court confirms suspended sentence for driver who killed a man in illegal street race

A controversial suspended sentence handed to a boy racer who collided with an oncoming vehicle during an illegal street race, killing its driver, has been confirmed on appeal.

Ayrton D’Amato Quintano, now 29, had been handed a one-year prison sentence, suspended for two years in 2018 for the involuntary homicide of Filomeno Bonavia, 55, of Mosta in 2013 .

D’Amato Quintano, then 19 years old, had been behind the wheel of his father's Jaguar, racing a BMW driven by another motorist, Sean Borg, near Ghammieri farm, when the Jaguar overtook the BMW and crashed head-on into a pick-up truck being driven by the victim. Bonavia, who had been driving in the correct lane at the time, died at the scene of the incident.

In a decision handed down yesterday by the Court of Criminal Appeal, Mr. Justice Neville Camilleri confirmed D’Amato Quintano’s one-year prison sentence, which was suspended for two years, ordering the suspension period to begin from the date of the appeal judgement. 

D’Amato Quintano’s one year driving suspension, two-year supervision order and €2,000 fine, payable within three years were also confirmed in the same manner. 

The judgement makes several references to case law in support of this conclusion and preempts comparisons to the effective prison sentence, confirmed on appeal, that the same judge had handed to Michael Caruana Turner in May this year.

While acknowledging the similarity of the two incidents, the judge pointed out that Caruana Turner had also been convicted of driving while under the influence of alcohol, which wasn’t the case here.

Mr. Justice Camilleri observed that, although in certain cases human life was being treated too cheaply, this did not necessarily mean that an effective jail term must be imposed in every case involving an involuntary death. 

In confirming the suspended sentence, the judge took into account the care plan created by the defendant’s probation officer, his clean criminal record, as well as his age at the time of the incident.

“Every case has to be judged on its merits and everyone should be aware that a vehicle can also be a deadly weapon in the hands of persons who are not responsible enough to use it. There is no doubt that if [D’Amato Quintano] had been more responsible in his driving, Filomeno Bonavia might not have lost his life,” the judge said.

Quoting from a 2012 decision in a similar appeal against a suspended sentence, the court said  “a suspended sentence is not, as some think, a let-off or a simple slap on the hand. Whoever is condemned to a punishment of suspended imprisonment must be, during its operative period, as the Maltese say ‘imqarar u mqarben’(on his best behaviour), because the moment he, during that period, commits some other imprisonable offence, once found guilty of that offence, the prison sentence which had been suspended in this manner, he must therefore begin to serve.”

The judge also noted that a social inquiry report drawn up during the proceedings, recommended that the driver ought to be allowed to work, “so as to continue to lead a stable and structured life whilst registering progress in life” and underlined the importance that he interact with people who could provide further support "in view of the trauma he had been through." 

Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri assisted D'Amato Quintano.