A small statue of the the Holy Mary was found right beside the body of a woman who died when her home collapsed, a court heard on Wednesday.
Anthony Pisani of the Civil Protection Department presented the statue, about the size of a mobile phone, during the compilation of evidence against four men accused of killing mother of two Miriam Pace through negligence and involuntarily damaging third-party property.
Roderick Camilleri, 36, from Rabat, who was the project’s architect; Anthony Mangion, a 72-year-old architect from Gżira who served as the construction project’s site technical officer; 36-year-old excavation contractor Ludwig Dimech from Żebbuġ; and 42-year-old construction worker Nicholas Spiteri, from Mqabba, have all plead not guilty.
Pisani, told the court that the small statue was found lying beside Pace's lifeless body.
He detailed how, during the search, first responders had called Pace’s mobile phone in the hope of locating her position beneath the wave of debris that had spilled out into a neighbouring excavation site.
Once a rough area was identified, sniffer dogs got to work locating the exact area where Pace was buried.
Pisani told the court, presided by magistrate Joe Mifsud, that first responders had discovered some blood splatter on dust that had settled on large debris. A clearing of that section of the collapse eventually uncovered a woman’s face, he said.
Inspector Robert Vella, who led the prosecution, next summoned Jonathan Joslin who ran the emergency medical staff on site.
The consultant emergency physician, told the court how at 10.15pm first responders had identified a female face and certified her dead. They then began the process to exhume her body from beneath the debris.
Architect Graham Attard, who had been appointed by a magistrate to draw up a report on the site of the collapse, confirmed his report under oath. He also detailed the clearing of the site from large debris.
Police inspector Mathew Galea presented four statements taken from the four accused questioned during the course of police investigations following the building collapse.
The case was adjourned to Thursday at 9am.
Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Alfred Abela represented the two architects who face charges, Camilleri and Mangion. Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri appeared on behalf of the construction worker, Spiteri.
The contractor, Dimech, was represented by lawyers Michael Sciriha, Roberto Montalto, Lucio Sciriha and Franco Galea.
The Pace family were represented in court by lawyers Joe Giglio and David Bonello. Neighbours of theirs were represented by lawyer Stefano Filletti.