Paceville killer ordered to pay €294,000 to victim’s heirs

Antonel Dobre, a Romanian man who was jailed last year for causing the death of Al Shazliay Saleh Osama in a 2012 altercation in Paceville, has been ordered to pay €294,216 in compensation to the heirs of his victim.

In March 2015, Dobre had been sentenced to seven years imprisonment after he was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm from which death ensued, although the crime was deemed excusable as it had been provoked by a crime against the person. During the trial, it emerged that Saleh had elbowed Dobre’s friend in the face while they were inside a club in the entertainment district. Some minutes later, Dobre confronted Saleh on St. Rita’s steps and punched the victim, causing him to fall and hit his head on the ground.

The cause of Saleh's death, three days after the confrontation, was established to be cranial fractures that he had suffered as a result of the impact with the kerb.

Later that year, Marta Kaczmarek, who had been pregnant with Saleh's son, Jakub, at the time of his death filed a claim for damages against Dobre. Since the father was already dead the birth certificate registered the father as unknown but following another court case Saleh Osama was registered as the father.

She argued that the defendant was responsible of Saleh's death and as a result both mother and son suffered damages. They asked the court to condemn the defendant to pay damages.

Last December, in a related case,  judge Lawrence Mintoff had ruled that an unborn child was legally entitled to inherit its father, even if the father died before its birth.

The court examined the possibility that, as the defendant had been provoked, the victim was, in part, also responsible for the incident. However the judge noted that the defendant had attacked the deceased to pay him back for beating up a friend of his. Apart from the fact that the defendant had not been himself attacked by Saleh Osama, it was evident that at the time of the fatal assault, the danger to his friend had long since passed.

It pointed out that the right of a child born after its father was unlawfully killed to claim damages from the killer was well established both in Continental and UK case law and the entitlement commenced upon the child's birth.

The judge held Dobre responsible for the damages suffered by the plaintiffs as a result of the death. In quantifying the amount of damages, the court awarded Jakub Osama €272,563, based on the presumption that the deceased would continue to earn the minimum wage for the 39 years up till his retirement age. He was also ordered to pay Kaczmarek €1,653 for the costs of the case and although she was not technically an heir, the court ordered that she receive a discretionary payment of €20,000 from the Romanian.