The children of a woman, killed when her Sliema home collapsed onto her during neighbouring excavation works 25 years ago, are still waiting to be paid the compensation awarded to them five years ago.

“What’s the point of having laws if there is no enforcement,” asked Paul Vella, whose mother, 84-year-old Rita Vella, died in the tragic collapse in Cathedral Street in 2000.

In June 2020, an appeals court confirmed a judgment handed down by the first hall of the civil court and ordered the contractors to pay the family of the victim €56,800 between them while the architect was ordered to pay €10,800 by way of compensation. The family is still waiting. 

“We – the victims – are put in a situation where we have to chase what’s legally ours. We are considering filing another case but that means more time and more money,” Vella said.

He is one of seven siblings together with Miriam, Carmen, Joe, George, Marthese and Richard. 

The house of the Vella family, in Cathedral Street, Sliema, before and after the collapse.

“The saddest part is that two of us died without seeing justice,” he said, referring to his siblings George and Marthese.

Their childhood home in Cathedral Street had collapsed due to neighbouring excavation works. At the time, their mother was having lunch with their uncle and one of the brothers, Joe.

The uncle, Anthony Mifsud, walked out before the collapse while Joe survived the collapse. The mother died in hospital some hours after the incident that shocked the country. 

Vella referred to the legal changes in the construction industry that followed the Jean Paul Sofia inquiry – the 20-year-old died in a construction site collapse at the Corradino industrial estate in December 2022.

“It was about time that we saw several legal changes. But what’s the point of having them unless they are enforced?”

Last month, a roof collapsed at an old house next to a construction site in Mosta, and, in a separate incident, two balconies collapsed in Qawra. The BCA did not apportion any blame to the construction sites next door.

What’s the point of having laws if there is no enforcement?

Contrary to the Vellas’ case, no one was injured in the recent incidents. 

“Losing a mother is not easy. Our lives changed completely. From having a mother who used to watch out for us and call us, we suddenly found ourselves without her. It was a total collapse… Our mother’s house was our meeting point for all those years. Then it was erased from our lives. When a mother who was so caring gets taken away by negligence and carelessness – it hurts,” Paul had told Times of Malta during an interview in 2019.

Back then, he spoke about how the family were still waiting for justice.

They still are.

Paul Vella speaking to Times of Malta in 2019. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

The day of the collapse

The home collapsed on April 12, 2000. The family had been noticing cracks in the property long before. Architects had told them there was nothing to worry about. But, a few days before the accident, the cracks increased drastically.

On the morning of the accident, Paul’s sister, Carmen, went to their mother’s house and felt the building shaking. Carmen headed to the neighbouring site and asked workers to immediately stop excavating and call the architect. A meeting was planned between the site architect and the family architect that day at 1pm.

Carmen went back to her own home for lunch at her mother’s insistence. She was meant to return for the meeting. But when she started phoning her mother, no one answered.

The lines had gone. Then a neighbour called and told her there was a collapse, Paul recounted.At the time his mother, brother and uncle were having lunch on the ground floor. His brother later told him how their uncle noticed fine dust falling onto the table. They decided to leave the building.

Carmen, Miryam and the late Marthese with their mother Rita Vella, who is holding a granddaughter, Sara. Photo: Vella family

“My uncle, who was an amputee, walked straight into the corridor all the way out. My mother’s first reaction was to check whether the cooker was switched off. So she went to the kitchen, which was a couple of metres away. By the time she walked round the table and started heading out, the building collapsed,” he said.

“My mother was buried totally except for her heel… And my brother was covered up to his chest with stones… When they cleared up the rubble, the plates were still there. Flattened. With the food still there on the plates,” Paul had said in 2019.

Paul received a phone call while at a business lunch. He headed straight to hospital. At about 5pm his mother passed away. 

Apart from dealing with the loss of their mother and the property, the family had to face a legal battle.

Two contractors and an architect were charged with involuntary causing Vella’s death. Twelve years later, in 2012, contractor Carmel Micallef and sub-contractor Raymond Calleja were each fined €4,000 for causing her death and seriously injuring her son, Joseph, through their negligence. 

Architect Phillip Azzopardi was cleared after the magistrate noted he had told the two men to keep their distance but they ignored him.

Meanwhile, a civil case ran in parallel for damages.