Minister ordered to pay €66,000 in damages to car crash victim

Justice Minister Owen Bonnici has been ordered to pay €66,667 in damages to man he had injured in car crash back in 2014.

Judge Lawrence Mintoff, presiding over the First Hall of the Civil Court, ruled that the victim, Alies Adulhadi, was owed €65,894 in damages and a further €772 in expenses related to the incident.  

Abdulhadi had sustained a 12% disability as a result of the accident, which happened in April 2014 when Bonnici’s car hit Abdulhadi’s stationary vehicle at the exit of the Santa Venera tunnels.

Abdulhadi was inspecting his car after it had broken down when he was hit by it, suffering a broken tibia, torn ligaments and a badly twisted knee.

Bonnici was acquitted of negligent driving shortly after the incident but Abdulhadi had filed a civil suit for damages.  

Mr Justice Mintoff found that Mr Abdulhadi, taking into account that he would have worked until 65 and would have been likely to earn a minimum of €20,000 as a warranted engineer, and set a 30-year multiplier when calculating damages due to him.

In a statement, the Justice ministry said that the ministry was fully insured and damages would be paid out by his insurance company. It added that the minister had never opposed Abdulhadi’s request for damages. “This naturally facilitated the case’s quick resolution.”

READ MORE: Owen Bonnici not guilty of negligent driving in April traffic accident