A pedestrian who was killed in a hit-and-run- incident in Żejtun on August 4 had suffered several injuries, including a broken spine, forensic pathologists testified in court on Wednesday.
Antoine Degabriele, 51, was run over in Triq President Anton Buttigieg. His lifeless body was found several hours later in a field bordering the street.
Dean Donovan Frendo, 23, the driver of a silver Mazda that was seen on CCTV footage as it flashed past, closely followed by a second vehicle moments before the fatal impact, is pleading not guilty to involuntary murder.
Doctors Ali Salfraz and David Pisani testified that they had carried out the autopsy on Degabriele two days after he was killed.
They presented their joint report, confirming that the cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries the victim had suffered as a result of a motor vehicle incident. Among those injuries were a fractured spine and pelvis.
Earlier in the sitting, forensic medical expert Mario Scerri testified that he had visited the crime scene on August 5 at around noon, finding the corpse lying in a field that was bordered off from the pavement by a low stone wall.
The doctor certified that the victim had died 12 hours previously and the lesions on his body indicated that he had suffered a violent impact.
The victim had died as a result of those injuries, said Scerri.
Frendo currently stands accused of involuntary murder, reckless driving, failing to stop after the impact as well as tampering with evidence in the aftermath of the incident.
In a bail decree delivered by the Criminal Court in September, Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera flagged the need for authorities to introduce electronic tagging.
Such remote monitoring of people undergoing criminal proceedings would ensure that society is better protected while allowing the courts to impose less onerous conditions for bail, the judge had stressed.
The case, presided over by Magistrate Ian Farrugia, continues in January.
Inspectors Roderick Spiteri and Shaun Pawney are prosecuting.
Lawyers Franco Debono and Francesca Zarb are defence counsel.
Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Kris Busietta are appearing parte civile.