A contractor responsible for the collapse of a building which left two women dead in 2004 has been sent back to prison, after the courts ruled to overturn an interim measure which had suspended his sentence.

Contractor Paul Demicoli was sentenced to two years in prison for being responsible for the building collapse which killed Maria Dolores Zarb and Nadya Vavilova in St Paul’s Bay on 3 June 2004.

He was originally sentenced to three years, but this was reduced to two on appeal.

On 3 June 2004, two flats in a block of four collapsed while workmen were carrying out construction work on the adjacent plot of land. One of the flats was empty, but 60-year-old Mary Zarb was giving a private Maltese lesson to Russian Nadia Vavilova, 24. Both died in the disaster from "traumatic asphyxia due to multiple injuries," according to pathologists Marie Therese Podesta' and Ali Salfraz.

More than a year after the incident, Kevin Bonnici from Birzebbuga, Paul Demicoli, from Birkirkara were arraigned under arrest. The men - the employee, the landowner and the employer respectively - were accused of causing the disaster through negligence and with failing to ensure the health and safety of all the people who could have been affected by the development, among other charges.

Bonnici and Demicoli were found guilty of the charges in 2009. Demicoli was sentenced to three years imprisonment and Bonnici to 18 months imprisonment.

In total, Demicoli was found guilty on seven charges, however on appeal, he was found guilty of six and not guilty of one.  The appeal was concluded in November 2022.

Bonnici was originally found guilty of six charges, but on appeal he was found guilty of five and not guilty on one. His sentence was reduced to 6 months imprisonment.

Demicoli had then instituted proceedings before the Constitutional Court claiming that his rights had been breached because of the delays he experienced before the Criminal Court.

His lawyer requested an interim measure whereby the contractor would not continue to serve his punishment until the breach of rights case was definitively concluded – a request which was upheld last February. When giving the interim order, the court had, among other things, noted that the daughter of Maria Dolores Zarb had forgiven the accused and that she would have preferred if a community service order was given rather than imprisonment.

The decision however was overturned on Tuesday after an appeal filed by the Attorney General, Police Commissioner and State Advocate.

The court observed how – in view of the fact that criminal proceedings against Demicoli started in 2005 and only definitively concluded in 2022 – Demicoli had expected that he should be spared an effective jail term.

The court – composed of Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti and Judges Giannino Caruana Demajo and Anthony Ellul – resolved that an interim measure being granted in the first place was exceptional and that judgements should not be rendered ineffective simply because the accused in the case filed a breach of rights case.

The court said that rather than the interim measure, the first court could have ordered the constitutional proceedings to be heard with urgency so that a decision could be delivered as soon as possible.

The appeal against the interim measure was therefore upheld, and the measure was revoked.

Photo: TVM