A construction worker on Tuesday recalled the distress of a truck driver who cried “I hit him, I hit him,” after his elderly workmate was knocked down as a truck was manoeuvred on a narrow Birżebbuġa street last year.

That manoeuvre proved fatal for 71-year old Karmnu Micallef who was accompanying driver Davide Manunta, 35, on that fateful February 3 afternoon.

Micallef had stepped out of the large Leyland DAF vehicle to give Manunta directions as he attempted to turn the truck on the narrow Triq Wied il-Qoton where the tragic incident took place.

Micallef was knocked down and then dragged and run over several times by the truck’s left wheel before the driver realised what had happened.

Manunta was subsequently charged with involuntary homicide.

During previous testimonies, the court heard that the two workmen had been sent to deliver rebar by a logistics officer at GP Borg Ltd for works at an alley in Birżebbuġa.

Pierre Theuma, who had made the order for the rebar, told the court that the metal was to be used to surface the alley.

“I called GP Borg and they were to bring a metal mash to the workplace,” Theuma said.

He met Manunta at Ħal Far and led the way to Triq Wied il-Qoton in his van. He then turned into the alley, parked and waited in the shade by a wall for the truck to follow.

But the truck never made it to the site.

The driver had apparently headed further down the road and then tried to turn the truck around.

Then suddenly, from his point near the alley opening, Theuma heard shouting.

It was the truck driver who was crying and hitting his hands against his head in despair.

“I hit him! I hit him! (ilqattu!), cried Manunta.

“Hit who?” asked Theuma, baffled and not quite sure if the other man was referring to the truck he had been driving.

But Manunta replied, “my workmate! (Lil siehbi!)”

Theuma said he went speechless.

“I was shocked,” he recalled, adding that he was "not good at handling such matters”.

But he tried to take control of the situation, telling the driver to sit down and wait while he called his wife to ask for the emergency number.

“My mind went totally blank at the time,” explained the witness.

He then called the ambulance for help.

Shortly afterwards, he received a call informing him that help had arrived at the accident spot.

Still shocked and dazed, the witness headed home.

Asked by lawyer Franco Galea, representing the victim’s family, about the works that were being carried out, the witness said he was working for a contractor who was handling a government job.

An excavator and a small bulldozer were being used to carry out the surfacing works, said Theuma.

Before the accident, many other trucks even larger than that one involved in the incident had gone up and down that same stretch of road, the witness added.

“But did they try to turn round?” the lawyer asked.

However, the court directed the witness not to answer such a question.

The prosecution declared that it had no further evidence to put forward.

The case now continues in July with evidence by the defence.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech is presiding.

Lawyers Matthew Xuereb and Franco Debono are defence counsel. Lawyer Franco Galea appeared parte civile.  Inspector Kevin Pulis prosecuted.