Jamie Bartolo, three years ago a boy of 13, had told Toyota driver Faye Camenzuli, a few minutes after she hit him with her car, “don’t worry, it’s not your fault”.

He spoke these words as the ambulance had just arrived and was preparing to lift him up and take him to hospital. The boy said that Faye Camenzuli, 26 from Mellieha, had phoned his father, the ambulance and the police, a few moments after the accident happened.

The accident took place on 26 June, 2010 at around 11am in Ghajn Zejtuna Street, Mellieha, with the boy kept in hospital for three months and ending with a permanent disability in his right leg.

In court the boy said that on the day he was riding his bicycle “freestyle” at Santa Maria Estate and was going down the hill on the left side of the road. He said he wanted to cross the road. When he arrived at the crossroads he first looked to the right and then to the left, and when he saw no cars coming, decided to cross the road. 

When crossing, a red car came right on his side and hit him. Jamie Bartolo said that the car was driven by Faye Camenzuli, and she had hit him on the back side of his bicycle, and with the impact the bicycle finished a few metres away, with Bartolo hitting the ground. He immediately felt the pain and knew that something bad had happened to his right leg.

Jamie Bartolo was going near his father at Ghadira Bay and said that he had a vision of approximately seven cars from the direction that Faye Camenzuli was coming. He said he was driving very slowly, and he stopped instantly just before he was hit and the car hit him from the driver’s side.   

The boy also said that the bike had moved just before the police had arrived and that he finished in front of the car, and that is because, the car did not stop instantly when it hit him. Jamie Bartolo also said that there were “brake marks” on the road and that he had cycled from a “Stop Sign”.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli said she was convinced that the version given by the boy was correct. He had excused himself with the lady because he was saying the truth, and it is by far an illusion to state that the boy said such words because he was told to do so by others, such as the fact he said that his brakes failed, and his tyre had skidded on impact.

The court said it is difficult to believe what the prosecution claims, that while in severe pain, he was inventing things to calm down the situation. The court said that according to the sketch, the boy was telling the truth about how things had happened. The traffic rules apply for everyone, whether a car, motorcycle, bicycle or a pedestrian. When coming out of a side-street one has to make “a proper lookout” for traffic using the main road.   The court also said that there was no negligence on the part of the Toyota driver, or dangerous driving. It is also not true that the woman was driving very fast. At 30 kilometres an hour, it is surely not very fast, at the place where the accident took place. For all such motives Faye Camenzuli is not guilty of the charges. She was acquitted.   Inspector Jessica Grima prosecuted.