Updated 3.30pm with Bernard Grech's comment

The mother of Jean Paul Sofia, who was killed in a building collapse last December, has written to all members of parliament calling them to support her call for a public inquiry into the incident.

Last week the Opposition tabled a parliamentary motion urging the government to launch a public inquiry into the collapse. Sofia's mother, Isabelle Bonnici, is asking MPs to back the motion in the name of "justice" and "transparency".

“Only this way can we avoid more suffering. Only this way can we have justice and transparency so that whoever has their hands stained with my son’s death, and whoever did not do their job well faces the consequences,” Bonnici wrote to MPs as she stressed that an inquiry would help address shortcomings in the system and ensure such tragedies did not repeat themselves. 

“This is not a matter of [political] colours because I can assure you that when you spend 15 hours waiting for your son to be dug out from under rubble…  all you see is black,” she wrote.

Jean Paul was not supposed to be working on the day of the incident. Photo: Facebook

Sofia’s parents have long been asking for a public inquiry into the accident. Sofia, 20, was killed in a building collapse on a Corradino construction site.

Times of Malta revealed in December how the government land on which the private factory was being built is leased to an alleged human trafficker, Kurt Buhagiar. His business partner, Matthew Schembri, has faced his own accusations of criminal wrongdoing in connection with two “hitmen” allegedly hired to assault his ex-wife’s father-in-law.

Prime Minister  Robert Abela had said a public inquiry could disrupt rather than help the search for justice. He instead urged inquiring magistrate Marse-Ann Farrugia to conclude the process “without further delay".

Last week the parents wrote an open letter in which they blamed their son's death on inaction by state entities as well as those responsible for the construction site’s development. The mother has now gone straight to MPs who will vote on the motion in what she described as  “a genuine message from the heart of a grieving mother” who wishes justice for her son and a reform and enforcement of laws in the construction industry.

The remains of the building that collapsed on December 3, killing Jean Paul Sofia. Photo: Jonathan Borg

She said that her son, who was 20 years old, had his whole life ahead of him. “He loved life, loved us, his friends, and animals so much so that once he was so happy for saving a rat…. December 3 was a dark day not only because we lost our only son but also because we experienced the pain of knowing that he was innocent and died because of other people’s negligence, greed for money and the weak enforcement system,” she said.

The only way to ensure this does not happen again, and to avoid other such tragedies, was by holding a public inquiry that would identify the shortcomings in the construction industry. This could not be achieved during the ongoing magisterial inquiry that focused on criminal responsibility but did not focus on the system.

What is the difference between an independent and public inquiry?

Whenever there is a suspicious or violent death, the government is obliged to launch an independent inquiry under the European Convention for Human Rights. But the follow-up to the outcome of that inquiry is a purely political decision. 

An independent inquiry is one appointed by the prime minister or minister to look into the state’s responsibility under the Inquiries Act with the purpose of looking into: the conduct of public officers; the conduct or management of any government department;  any matter falling within the functions or responsibility of any such department or body, or otherwise concerning or affecting a service of the government.

What determines whether that independent inquiry is public (heard in the open) or not depends on the terms of reference. Malta has only had two public inquiries: that of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder launched two years after her murder in 2019 and published in 2021 that found that the State should shoulder responsibility for her death; and the 1996 public inquiry into allegations of bribery on a contract for new bus tickets after then Leader of the Opposition Alfred Sant published documents that suggested kickbacks were promised on a contract to install new bus ticketing machines.

The inquiry had found no wrongdoing on former transport minister Michael Frendo’s part. But a 1997 review commented that “in this case it is clear that a number of irregular facts occurred, as ascertained by the Board of Inquiry, and more than one of which could amount to serious crimes; however, little has been done about them, if anything.”

'No one should bury the truth like they buried Jean Paul' - Bernard Grech

On Wednesday afternoon, PN leader Bernard Grech called on parliament to immediately discuss the motion tabled by the Opposition.

"Together with my colleagues within the Opposition, we will continue fighting to ensure no one buries the truth like they buried Jean Paul," Grech said in a Facebook post.

Grech said while reading Bonnici's letter, he could feel the mother's heartbreak. 

Jean Paul's mother, he said, was a strong woman, who, despite her own suffering, was fighting to ensure that no other woman goes through a similar ordeal.