The mother of Jean Paul Sofia will not allow any public inquiry recommendation to be shelved, she told Times of Malta ahead of the report’s publication today.

Contacted hours before she is handed a copy of the hefty probe into her son’s death at a building site, Isabelle Bonnici said she does not expect all the recommendations to be implemented at once, but all of them must be implemented at some point.

“I’m expecting a lot from this inquiry. I expect that those officials who failed to do their job and adhere to their responsibilities face justice,” she told Times of Malta. “I also expect the failures of the system to be addressed and the inquiry recommendations implemented.

“I understand not everything can change at once, but we must at least make continuous steps forward. I promise I will be there to ensure no recommendation is shelved, as was sometimes done in the past. We deserve a reform that works and makes the sector safer. Cowboys should be in the Wild West, not among us.”

The public inquiry board announced on Monday that it will present the final report to the prime minister and will hand a copy to the family of Jean Paul Sofia today.

Later on Monday, Justice and Construction Reform Minister Jonathan Attard confirmed in parliament that the report would be published following a presentation from the inquiry board to the prime minister, then tabled in parliament, and discussed “immediately”.

He also confirmed that works will commence to ensure that the final recommendations based on the findings of the inquiry will be implemented.

Bonnici told Times of Malta she intends to go to parliament to follow the debate, insisting it was time the authorities and stakeholders go from words to actions to make construction safer.

“I wish that boards are composed of people who make decisions in favour of laws that are not loopholed to allow strong people to abuse the system,” she said.

“I want to see honest politicians who work for the people, not for their pockets. And I don’t want any other mother to go through this suffering because of other people’s negligence.”

She is hopeful, however.

“I feel enthusiastic that with good faith and determination we can achieve the construction reform we so badly need,” she said.

“I will never allow my son to be forgotten or to have died for nothing.”

She also feels grateful for the many people who supported her. They were her courage to remain resilient in the face of adversity, she said.

At the beginning of last August, inquiry chair and former judge Joseph Zammit McKeon, Auditor General Charles Deguara and architect Mario Cassar were given the government blessing to kick off the public inquiry.

Since the construction project occurred within a government-owned industrial estate, the probe was tasked with looking into the government’s land transfer to developers, the specifics leading to the collapse as well as the state’s broader responsibility in protecting workers at building sites from harm.

They were to investigate whether the land allocation was lawful, regular and followed the necessary procedures, whether there was a link between the land allocation and the collapse, whether the state had adequate rules in place before, during or after Sofia’s death and whether it ensured they were enforced.

They were also tasked with investigating whether planning, development and construction processes are equipped with the necessary laws, policies and regulations to eliminate as much as possible the risk of injuries or deaths, and whether any state entity failed to take reasonable steps to avoid injuries and deaths.

It was also given the broader remit of investigating construction-related laws and health and safety regulations.

Months of hearings and concerning revelations

Months of public testimonies followed, revealing concerning construction realities, and the inquiry chair did not conceal his shock at the poor oversight from the entities supposed to oversee the industry.

Building and Construction Authority (BCA) officials testified that they had no oversight on the Corradino site, with its CEO describing the entire construction sector as having been “sick for 40 years”.

The former head of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA) testified that its inspectors did not visit the site, but also that its inspections would not have flagged the problems that needed to be observed anyway.

Meanwhile, the executive chair of INDIS – the government entity responsible for administering government land to private enterprises – testified that there was “nothing suspicious” about that particular land allocation and that the process was not fast-tracked.

And the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority chair told the inquiry the body was “still checking” whether concrete bricks used at the site were certified as safe.

Criminal charges

Meanwhile, a magisterial inquiry into the collapse made public in July, concluded that the construction project was dotted with irregularities and painted a picture of an “amateur” construction sector.

The partially collapsed building. Photo: Jonathan Borg.

Among other things, a court-appointed architect found that structural drawings for the building were flawed, that the building itself was not adequately reinforced, that no qualified builder oversaw works and that the architect did most oversight via WhatsApp.

Five people stand accused in court of having involuntarily murdered 20-year-old Sofia and injured five other workers as a result of the Corradino collapse.

A timeline 20-year-old Jean Paul Sofia died when the factory building that was under construction collapsed like a pack of cards during roofing works on December 3, 2022.

Five workers were injured. Sofia died under the rubble and his body was only found several hours later.

CCTV footage indicates Jean Paul had been inside the building for around seven minutes when it collapsed and killed him.

At around 2.30am, after an excruciating 16-hour search, his father John Sofia was called by the police and the Civil Protection Department to identify his dead son.

Jean Paul was found lying face up, with his left arm covering his face and with blood coming out of the back of his head.

CCTV footage shows the building took just two seconds to collapse and his father believes his son’s position reflects what he did in those horrific couple of seconds – he looked up, saw the ceiling fall on him and quickly raised his arm to cover his face. He probably fell on his back and was squashed between the debris of the collapsed storeys above and below him.

Following the tragedy his mother spent months campaigning for the government to order a public inquiry into her son’s death. The government staunchly resisted those calls for months and even voted against a parliamentary motion to appoint such an inquiry.

But faced with mounting public outrage, Prime Minister Robert Abela changed tack just days after that parliamentary vote and agreed to order a public inquiry into the case. 

That U-turn, coupled with images of Abela sailing away on his cabin cruiser just days after voting against holding a public inquiry, prompted a measure of disquiet among Labour MPs and led to the party losing thousands of votes, according to polls.