Seven years after losing their daughter in a traffic accident, the parents of Johanna Boni are still longing for justice and closure.

Josephine and Giuseppe Boni feel “betrayed” by the Maltese authorities after the tragic circumstances that robbed 27-year-old Johanna from them on the morning of January 5, 2016.

Their daughter was at a stop sign on her motorcycle, a Kawasaki ER6N, when she was run over by a left-hand-drive cement mixer in Labour Avenue, Naxxar. She had been on her way to work when the accident happened.

The truck driver was charged with involuntary homicide and is pleading not guilty in a case which is still pending.

“Seven years and we are still attending dragged-out court hearings. Our hearts are broken and our lives destroyed thanks to all these people,” Josephine Boni told Times of Malta, listing the driver, “lying witnesses”, people on duty at the morgue and the undertaker among others.

“Shame on them all.

“One day they all must give an account to God for having us endure all this pain and ruining the life and dignity of a 27-year-old and her family,” she added.

Missing clothing

Josephine Boni explained how the clothes Johanna was wearing on the day of the accident, as well as brand new pairs of bikers’ boots and gloves, were never returned by the authorities.

Also missing from the site of the accident was her Samsung S4 phone with images, videos and messages that the grieving parents are longing to see.

All they got back from the police was the mobile phone cover and €20 in cash that their daughter had placed between the phone and its cover.

As if losing their daughter under tragic circumstances was not enough, the parents got another terrible shock three years later – when in January 2019 they discovered she had been buried in a body bag placed inside the coffin.

The parents only discovered this by chance, prior to the burial of Johanna Boni’s grandfather who was to be interred in the same grave at the Mosta cemetery.

'We cannot sleep at night'

The red dress they had purchased for Johanna to be buried in, as well as a necklace and a pair of shoes were placed in the corners of the coffin.

“I cannot even describe how disgusted I was at seeing my daughter in a plastic bag... you wouldn’t even treat an animal like that. And the clothes I had given them to dress her in were stuffed in a corner inside the coffin.

“My husband and I cannot sleep at night. We keep seeing that horrible sight over and over again,” the distraught mother had told Times of Malta soon after the grim discovery.

The parents then started an unprecedented legal battle, which is also still pending before the courts, for their daughter to be given a proper burial.

“She died on a Maltese road. I entrusted her body to the Maltese authorities, that body for me is the greatest treasure but it was mocked. Her belongings were stolen and she was not dressed for her last farewell. I saw her body and I have all the photos. There was no reason why they did not dress her as instructed,” she said.

The parents even had to fight to take back the motorbike, which was barely damaged in the accident.

Seven years later, they are still longing for closure although they know that their lives have changed forever and nothing will bring their daughter back.

They say the only reason they continue to fight their legal battles, apart from obtaining justice for their daughter, is to ensure that no other parent will have to go through the same trauma.