A magisterial inquiry into the death of a 17-year old employee of Construct Furniture has concluded that company director John Agius should face criminal charges for involuntary homicide, among other charges, The Sunday Times of Malta can reveal.

Mr Agius’s daughter, Amanda Cefai, and her husband James – a foreman at the company – will face the same criminal charges, legal sources have confirmed.

Matthew Bartolo, from Kirkop, died just over a year ago – on June 4, 2015 – when he was operating a woodworking machine used to manufacture doors at Construct Furniture premises.

He became trapped in the machine, which claimed his life, following the company’s failure to follow health and safety procedures, the charges are expected to state.

Sources also said the inquiring magistrate, Joseph Mifsud, had noted that Mr Bartolo’s signature on training sheets presented by the company as evidence may have been forged.

The training sheets were meant to show that the employee had received the necessary training to work on the machine. Magistrate Mifsud commissioned a calligraphy expert to conduct a comparative analysis of handwriting on the documents, which confirmed his suspicion.

Furthermore, Ms Cefai’s signature appeared on a company time sheet presented as evidence, stating the employee had worked from 7am to 3.30pm on the day he lost his life. The incident occurred at 12.20pm and he died soon afterwards in hospital, which led to the conclusion the victim’s signature was forged after his death.

It is therefore expected that those charged will also be accused of forging documents and giving false testimony in the compilation of evidence for the inquiry.

Mr Bartolo died because he got stuck in a confined space while the machine was being operated. Evidence indicates Mr Bartolo was still tasked with completing jobs even when the machine operator assisting him would have finished his shift, which went against health and safety procedures.

On the day of Mr Bartolo’s funeral, the whole town mourned the much-loved young man described as having a contagious sense of fun.