A magistrate has berated the police for failing to act quickly enough to charge two men over an accident that almost cost a four-year-old girl her life.

The delay meant that the most serious charges became time-barred.

Although the accident happened in June 2018, the first hearing of the case took place last May - almost four years later, with the defence pouncing on the fact that some of the charges had become time-barred.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech was ruling on a case against two Gozitans, 37-year-old employer Mark Grima and his 44-year-old employee Robert Borg, who were charged over their responsibility when a four-year-old girl fell off a cargo lift and was seriously injured.

The criminal charges were filed following an investigation by the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA)  which had flagged "serious shortcomings" in the way the lift was installed.

Grima was handed a one-year jail term suspended for two years while Borg was handed a six-month jail term suspended for one year. Both filed guilty pleas.

Serious head injuries

The court heard how the four-year-old girl suffered serious head injuries in the fall. She was admitted to Gozo General Hospital and was then airlifted to Malta since her condition was critical. She was placed on the danger list.

Medical court experts testified that the girl had suffered a fractured skull leading to an intracranial haemorrhage. She would have died had it not been for the urgent and timely medical intervention to release the extreme pressure on her brain, they told the court. She has since made a complete recovery.

In her judgement, the magistrate noted how the prosecution had failed to file criminal proceedings earlier despite knowledge of a legal clause to suspend time-barring.

The incident happened on June 30, 2018 but the most serious charge – that of causing involuntary grievous injuries – carried a time bar of two years. The magisterial inquiry into the incident was concluded on May 29, 2020, a month before the charge became time-barred.

Although investigators could gain access to the case file while the inquiry was still underway, through a request to the Attorney General, they had waited for the inquiry to be concluded before filing the charges.

“The fact that a magisterial inquiry had not been concluded does not detract from the due scrutiny that should have been done to ensure that charges were filed in a timely manner so that justice could be served,” the magistrate said.

Suspended sentence

She added that following their guilty plea to the remainder of the charges – which were less serious in nature – the court had no option but to find them guilty as charged.

The pair were found guilty of failing to ensure that the cargo lift was properly installed, that it was of good and strong material and that the necessary maintenance was carried out.

They also failed to ensure that the cargo lift was checked by a competent person once every six months. Following such an inspection, a report had to be sent to the OHSA, as required by law.

Grima was sentenced to a one-year jail term suspended for two years while Borg was jailed for six months suspended for a year.

Grima was ordered to pay €1,433, equivalent to two-thirds of the costs of the case while Borg was ordered to pay the remaining €716.