A skipper involved in a boating incident which led to the death of an elderly swimmer has been cleared of involuntary homicide. 

Matthew Grech, 23, from Nadur, was manoeuvring a dinghy fitted with a 50HP Yamaha engine close to Ħondoq ir-Rummien Bay shortly after midday in June 2016. 

A Welshman, 64-year old Allan Michael Stanley, was hit by the dinghy’s propeller and died after being admitted to the Gozo General Hospital. 

Police investigations led to the identification of the suspect behind the fatal accident, who was subsequently charged with involuntary homicide as well as with taking a false oath when giving his own version of events. 

In the course of proceedings, the victim’s wife had recalled that she had gone down to the beach with her husband, an avid swimmer who regularly visited Ħondoq Bay. 

The woman explained that her husband would swim far out, to the rocks bordering the left side of the bay, going beyond the swimmers’ zone. 

She would often advise him to be careful, especially since he suffered from a heart condition. 

A male friend of the elderly couple who had been at the beach on the day of the incident, had also testified, confirming the wife’s version and adding that the victim would swim far out without any marker buoys. 

A woman at the beach that day also recalled having seen the swimmer enter the water without such buoys and without a wet suit and had watched him dive. 

At the outer end of the bay, a party of kayakers had sailed by, the group leader later testifying about having spotted an elderly swimmer, some 100 metres away from a concrete platform and some 30 metres from shore. 

The kayakers had barely noticed the swimmer. 

The man leading the group had in fact shouted out to the swimmer, signalling with his hands, he later told the court. 

The evidence showed that the victim had been swimming outside the restricted area, said the court, presided over by magistrate Joseph Mifsud. 

Having gone beyond the swimmers’ zone, the victim would have been “reasonably expected to take necessary precautions” to avoid such incidents, the court observed, drawing attention to the safety investigation report stating that, “swimming or snorkelling outside a swimmers’ zone is neither illegal nor prohibited. However, the close proximity to boats transiting the area increases the risk to snorkelers and swimmers who venture outside the established (safe) zone”.

Having been all alone and without any marker buoys, the swimmer was probably hidden from sight amid the mooring buoys, said the court, concluding that the victim’s own shortcomings had been “wholly” responsible for the accident.

Owing to that “sole and exclusive” contributory negligence of the victim, the boat driver could not be found guilty of involuntary murder. 

As for the charge of taking a false oath, saying that the swimmer had been hit by a speedboat rather than his dinghy, the court could not pronounce a conviction since that evidence was inadmissible. 

In the first place, the court expert had not been empowered to record the accused’s testimony under oath and secondly, the accused had not been assisted by a lawyer during his interrogation when releasing that statement. 

The court cleared the man of both accusations, ordering service of the judgment upon the CEO of the Court Services Agency to amend the template for a court expert’s appointment, so as to ensure similar serious repercussions in future proceedings. 

Lawyers Joseph Giglio and Richard Sladden were defence counsel.