The untimely death of Jean Paul Sofia, who tragically lost his life at the age of 20 at a building site in Corradino, shook the country. The building that collapsed just moments after he entered it, abruptly ended his life. However, while the horrific collapse took his life, what led to that dark December day and what followed after was more horrible to comprehend and come to terms with.
This was more than just one more accident to add to the many building site accidents that are reported. There was video footage of the building’s collapse. There was footage of the frantic efforts to find the missing youth. There was footage of the pain his death caused.
Things quickly took a turn for the worse when questions started being asked about the building’s construction itself, the government land it was built on, the way in which it was awarded to the developers, the developers themselves and their more than colourful background, with charges of human trafficking and other criminal offences.
Rubbing salt into the grieving family’s open wound was the sad, materialistic culture this country seems to have embraced and it was soon back to business as usual – the death of Jean Paul seemed to have become just another statistic.
We needed to have a public inquiry into Jean Paul’s untimely death. We needed to support his brave and grieving parents who would not take the death of their son lying down.
We needed to support them in their quest for the truth. We needed to ensure that those involved in what seemed to be an intricate web of favouritism and rule bending that were laden in secrecy were exposed.
Most of all we needed the public to know and to understand; that underhand actions be brought to light; that justice prevails; that corruption is exposed. And, today, we know what bringing people to justice takes in this country. We know just how high the level of corruption is at all levels. This was going to be a long tough fight… and, to an extent, still is.
This was never about partisan politics. It was all about sharing the grief; shouldering the pain; respecting the dignity of Isabelle Bonnici and her family; of showing them that Jean Paul’s family do not stand alone in their quest for justice; of making sure that we learn from what happened and prevent another similar disaster from happening.
The prime minister refused all calls for a public inquiry with the now tired cry and excuse of allowing the institutions to do their job. Questions remained unanswered. And, yet, a 20-year-old lost his life in a building collapse. A mother lost her child. A father lost his son.
“Let the institutions work. Speed up the magisterial inquiry. No to a public inquiry,” was the repeated reply of the prime minister and his ministers.
Unfortunately for him, the drive, commitment, passion and desire for justice of Isabelle and her family did not give Robert Abela any respite.
Public calls for accountability, transparency and a public inquiry, pressure from the Nationalist Party, NGOs, civil society, associations and the public in general continued unabated for weeks.
Jean Paul’s story has not been off the news for more than a couple of days during the past few weeks and probably months. The prime minister has found himself under mounting pressure and scrutiny. He hasn’t been able to hide in many places. He has rushed past camera crews and journalists, without so much as a wave or a smile. He initially avoided contact with Jean Paul’s family.
Suddenly in July came a motion by the opposition, which has been at the forefront of the campaign, to debate the setting up of a public inquiry into Jean Paul’s death. And with it came a petition, driven by Isabelle, to go beyond the magisterial inquiry and understand what failures contributed and led to her son’s death and to ensure that these would not be repeated and no more lives will be lost.
The emotional outburst of Jean Paul Sofia’s family in the strangers’ gallery was painful to watch- Jerome Caruana Cilia
With thousands of signatures collected, overshadowing the motion debate in parliament on July 12 and isolating Abela, the government voted against, and the motion was defeated.
The emotional outburst of Jean Paul’s family, who had sat patiently in the strangers’ gallery, hoping and praying that common sense would prevail, that justice would be done, that MPs would do the right thing, was painful to watch.
The prime minister’s indifference to a death of a mother’s son added insult to the injury already suffered. And, as the family were escorted out of parliament, Abela and his Labour Party colleagues stared into space, played with their mobile phones or squirmed in their seats.
Abela eventually left parliament and headed straight to Girgenti Palace to attend a concert he hosted (and we paid for) to try to put all his troubles behind him. In what may have been a hastily organised interview, the prime minister tried to deflect the growing negative sentiment against him – he could not have gone to enjoy himself out of respect to Jean Paul’s parents.
With thousands of people expected to attend (as they did) the Jean Paul Sofia protest vigil in Valletta, the visibly stressed prime minister pulled an unexpected rabbit out of his hat. The magistrate was used again as a scapegoat for the umpteenth time and therefore, he who has 20 years of legal experience and was brought up in a legal environment had no option but to agree to set up a public inquiry and also apologised for his lack of solidarity with Jean Paul’s family.
Isabelle welcomed the prime minister’s move, which, despite being really a last-minute move to desperately shore up his waning popularity, is welcome as it will, hopefully, lead to the truth and help expose all the probable and possible shortcomings. It might even goad our law enforcement officers into some investigative policing.
We are at a point today where Jean Paul’s family can look forward, hoping that justice will be served; where those responsible for the untimely death of their only son will be held accountable; where the way in which the system may have been abused both leading up to and following Jean Paul’s death will be exposed, put right and never repeated.
We are at this point as a result of the infinite love parents have for their children and the infinite pain their passing causes. The support given by all the immediate and extended family members have helped to bring us here today.
We are at this point today, also because of the solidarity shown by so many thousands of people. The coming together of people from all walks of life has been an inspiring journey which I have been proud and humbled to be a part of.
Together with Jean Paul’s loved ones, the public, my colleagues and the independent media, we will continue to walk side by side with Jean Paul’s family until justice is served.
Jerome Caruana Cilia is the Nationalist Party’s spokesperson on finance.