The courts today cleared a man of all charges after it could not be proven that he was driving recklessly and dangerously, with the Magistrate remarking that it was the injured party who had actually crashed into the accused. 

The incident took place on 16 December 2012 at around 11.40am. The accused, Isaac Schembri, 22 from Mgarr, driving a Mazda Demio, was accused of driving recklessly, involuntarily causing grievous injury to Arnold Farrugia who was driving a Kawasaki motorbike and involuntarily causing harm to the motorbike of Grezzju Farrugia.

Taking the witness stand, Arnold Farrugia explained that he was driving from Ghajn Tuffieha towards the direction of Rabat, when "all of a sudden", a car appeared out of nowhere coming from J. Micallef Petrol Station and stopped in its tracks. The accident took place on Buqana road, Rabat.

Farrugia said that he was very close to the car when it exited out of the petrol station, not leaving him enough time to stop and therefore resulting in the crash. The court heard how he was taken to hospital and subsequently underwent surgery three times. 

While under cross-examination, Farrugia said that the white line along the road by the petrol station was not a continuous line, but a dotted one. He refuted the assertion that the accused's vehicle was stopped on the part of the road dedicated for cars to turn for the direction of Mosta, maintaining that his vehicle had blocked off the lane Farrugia was driving in, and the crash had taken place on that very same lane.

Arnold Farrugia's injuries were confirmed through a medical certificate exhibited in court. Doctor Massimo Abela confirmed that Farrugia suffered grievous injuries. 

Police sergeant George Polidano confirmed that he found the accused's car pointing in the direction of Mosta, that both motorbikes were strewn on the ground along with Arnold Farrugia.  

Grezzju Farrugia confirmed the version of events, adding that he did not crash into the accused's car as he managed to swerve in time, but suffered some damage to his motorbike. 

Taking the witness stand, Schembri explained that he looked both ways before exiting the petrol station. The accused said that he saw two cars in the lane leading to Mosta, but there was enough time for him to make an exit. Once getting out of the station and onto the bay that allows you to turn for Mosta, he spotted two motorbikes, one of them described as driving at an excessive speed. Schembri said that the motorbike had overtaken the two cars, and when he saw the speed with which the bike was going, he concluded that he would not have enough time to get onto the road and made an attempt to turn back onto the pavement. 

This was not enough time however and the motorbike driven by Arnold Farrugia crashed into the rear door of his car, which he described as a total loss. 

The courts found that the accused, Isaac Schembri, could not be found guilty of reckless driving because he carried out a proper look out when exiting the station, and more than that, while he was on the bay that allows you to turn to Mosta, he responsibly did not decide to keep going but stopped in view of the speeding motorbike.

It was in fact the motorbike driver, Farrugia, who did not consider the possibility that Schembri could turn for Mosta rather than keep going to Rabat, and therefore it was Farrugia who crashed into Schembri, the court observed. Magistrate Josette Demicoli, presiding over he case, remarked that Schembri could not even be found guilty of injuring Farrugia since it was not proven that he was driving dangerously or recklessly.

The court found Schembri not guilty of all charges brought against him. Inspector Robert Vella prosecuted.