The driver who killed cyclist Clifford Micallef in a hit-and-run incident at Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq in 2009, has failed in his bid to overturn a three-year jail term handed down upon conviction in 2018.
Anthony Taliana, now 32, had crashed head-on into the victim’s bike at a velocity that was far above the maximum speed limit, on that fateful early morning on July 30, while driving his British girlfriend back home after a night out in Paceville.
The woman later testified that she had caught sight of the cyclist just before impact, but in spite of her screaming and pleading with her friend to stop, the then-21-year-old drove on, trying to calm her down on the rest of the ride to Buġibba.
After dropping her off, the driver had then garaged his damaged car and headed to bed.
A truck driver, passing along that stretch of road shortly after the incident, had swerved to avoid running over the lifeless body of the cyclist whom he first mistook for some dumped waste.
But when his truck hit the victim’s bike, dragging it along for several metres, he suddenly realised what had happened and stopped.
Crime experts later reported that the victim’s body had been discovered by the roadside, along with debris from the crash, including part of the bumper, complete with registration plate, of the runaway vehicle.
Driver tracked down smelling of alcohol
Its driver was tracked down, hours later, still smelling of alcohol, as evidenced by police officers who turned up to take him into custody.
When appealing his conviction, the accused argued that certain factors had not been taken into consideration by the first court, including the fact that the cyclist had swerved to the middle of the road to avoid a jutting tree.
But the court of criminal appeal, presided over by Madam Justice Edwina Grima, observed that photos dating to the day of the accident showed that the impact had occurred further away, since the victim’s body had landed near the tree.
Had the cyclist ventured to the middle of the two-lane road, he would have been visible to the driver, the court noted, further rejecting the appellant’s argument that the road was poorly lit.
That meant that he should have been driving more carefully, Judge Grima observed, adding that there had been no sign of brake or skid marks, meaning that the driver had never hit the brakes.
Moreover, the victim had been wearing green cycling gear and a yellow helmet, and remnants of the smashed bicycle showed that it had been equipped with fluorescent material and a flashing reflector lamp.
After the forceful impact, the accused had driven on, “as though nothing had happened,” in spite of his friend’s screams “going on his way indifferently [kiesah u biered],” said the judge.
There was no doubt that the immediate cause of the fatality was his excessive speed and lack of proper lookout, also brought about by the alcohol he had consumed prior to the incident and a lack of sleep.
Those factors had certainly weakened his reflexes, said Judge Grima.
Another accident two years earlier
Just two years earlier, Taliana had been involved in another traffic accident wherein his female passenger had suddenly grabbed his hand on the steering wheel, alerting him to oncoming traffic.
The woman later recalled how the accused, although not driving at high speed, had his eyes half-closed on that occasion.
She suffered serious facial injuries when the car smashed into a wall and her head went through the windscreen. Two years later, her forehead still bore a scar.
Although, since the fatality, Taliana had got his life on track, the court could not ignore the “tragic effects” upon the victim’s family whose current situation was also recorded in a social inquiry report drawn up at the appeal stage.
Although compensated by the accused’s family - since the driver had not even been insured - “no amount of compensation could ever substitute the life of a person untimely snatched and uselessly so, as a result of such incident,” the judge concluded, finding no cause to vary the thee-year jail term and one-year driving ban.