Nine months after a taxi driver left Kevin Brincat disabled during a quiet evening stroll, his family still have no idea whether they are entitled to any form of compensation, as they face the risk of poverty.

His distraught wife Marica told Times of Malta that court procedure to establish the facts of the roadside incident – which left her husband severely disabled – should have only taken two months to be completed. But more than 270 days later the family still has no idea what is going on, with lawyers informing them that the ongoing magisterial inquiry is being “held up”.

“My husband will not be able to work, perhaps ever again, and I have had to take long leave myself to take care of him and accompany him to his doctors’ appointments every week. We have two teenage children and I don’t know how we are going to survive,” she said. 

Her husband had been walking through a residential area in Cospicua earlier this year when a taxi hurtled towards him. 

He was left with broken ribs, two punctured lungs, several fractures, and brain damage with memory loss. 

He was left with broken ribs, two punctured lungs, several fractures and brain damage with memory loss

The incident was not caught on CCTV cameras, but Ms Brincat Vassallo says witnesses told her the taxi driver had been driving way above the 25 kilometre-per-hour speed limit. 

Once a store keeper who was the primary bread winner for his family of four, it is today his wife – a Learning Support Educator – who is trying to pay the bills alone.

“I had to take six months off work to care full time for my husband and since I am an LSE I should be back in September – not knowing what the future holds for us. I was lucky enough to be granted leave and at least I still had my wages to provide for my family. But no one cares if we will be able to eat or live in the near future,” she said. 

Ms Brincat Vassallo said in recent months she had struggled to pay bills, or afford her children’s private lessons ahead of their O level exams, and could not replace household appliances that went bust.

“If only we had an idea what is going on with this court procedure, we would be able to start planning our lives. As it stands we don’t know what we are going to do with my husband’s healthcare, and whether or not we can fight for compensation,” she said.

Ms Brincat Vassallo reached out to  Times of Malta after reading a report on Janet Walker, the resident who has also been left in the dark after part of her home collapsed due to neighbouring excavation works. 

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