The driver of a double-decker tourist bus that crashed in 2018, killing two and injuring many others, tested negative in a breathalyser test after the incident, a court heard on Friday.
Charles D’Amato, 27, faces charges of involuntary homicide following the deaths of a Spanish woman and Belgian man and injuries suffered by 21 other passengers in the April 2018 crash, when passengers on the bus’ top deck were hit by a tree branch.
Prosecutors have also charged him with dangerous and negligent driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
An inspector who testified on Friday said that a breathalyser test administered after the incident found no traces of alcohol in D’Amato’s breath.
“Zero,” said inspector Pierguido Saliba, when asked about the result of the test he administered to D’Amato.
Although, after a lapse of three years the witness could not “100 per cent” identify the driver in court, Saliba said that he could confirm that the person tested was the licensed driver.
D’Amato is one of five people facing involuntary homicide charges. The others are Degabriele brothers Kim, 40, Philip, 32, Noel, 24 and their sister Lee Ann Borg, 38, as directors of City Sightseeing Malta Ltd, which operated the open-top tourist bus service.
The court has already heard that many of the charges which prosecutors have filed against the accused are time-barred.
A horrific scene
Emergency consultant Jonathan Joslin told the court that a number of medical teams from Mater Dei Hospital and the Paola Health Centre were dispatched to the site of the crash on Valletta Road, Żurrieq.
Passengers on the lower deck of the bus, who were slightly injured, were helped off the vehicle and removed to a safe distance for necessary medical attention.
On the upper deck, Joslin came across a six-year-old child who clearly could not breathe properly and was having a fit. The boy was immediately rushed to the hospital and certified as suffering multiple head fractures.
A woman was standing next to a motionless male passenger, whose left arm had been completely ripped off in the crash. She was in a highly emotional state and held on to the man’s right hand, as the doctor certified the man dead.
The dismembered limb was subsequently found on the ground below, near a crash barrier, he told the court.
Another grievously injured female passenger also showed no signs of life.
The witness explained that he had roped in experts to administer psychological help to the victims, while the Civil Protection Department were on site to help transfer grievously injured passengers out of the wrecked bus.
Assistant Commissioner Sandro Gatt, who had overseen operations at the crash site, described the scene as “not at all pleasant,” recalling how he had approached the area very carefully, taking in the commotion.
Some 15 or 20 persons were standing or seated on a green canvas sheet, surrounded by paramedics and RIU officers as the damaged bus stood on the right side of the road.
Prosecuting Superintendent Josric Mifsud, at the time of the incident stationed at Cospicua, had called duty magistrate Monica Vella who then appointed experts to assist in the inquiry.
During his testimony today, the superintendent confirmed various scene of crime photos, including those of the driver, the damaged vehicle, the dismembered limb, the dead victims as well as the tree branch that had been grazed upon impact.
The case, which is presided over by magistrate Joseph Mifsud, continues later this month.
Inspector Janetta Grixti also prosecuted.
Lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia assisted the driver. Lawyers Alessia Zammit McKeon, Maria Grima, Shazoo Ghaznavi and Charlon Gouder assisted the directors.