A mother and her son, who were found guilty of murder by omission – the first case in Maltese history – were jailed for 40 years between them. The father, who was found guilty of involuntary homicide, was jailed for a year and a half.

Concetta Decelis, 57, was jailed for 15 years while her son Jason, 29, was jailed for 25 years. Following a trial by jury, the two were found guilty of murdering 18-year-old Rachel Bowdler when they did not call for assistance after she had taken a heroin overdose.

Carmel Decelis was cleared of murder but found guilty of the girl’s involuntary homicide. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Following a five-day trial, by seven votes to two, the jurors found Mrs Decelis, of St Paul’s Bay, guilty of causing Ms Bowdler’s death while her son Jason was found guilty of the same charge by six votes to three.

Handing down his judgement, Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono said Mrs Decelis and her son Jason did not call for assistance for Ms Bowdler who was “helpless” in that situation. He said they could have saved her life but, so they would not get into trouble, they chose not to.

“This behaviour is condemnable because only they could have sought assistance and only they could have helped the girl and saved her life. From evidence, in Jason’s case, the omission to call for help lasted 12 hours while in Mrs Decelis’ case, this lasted eight hours. Mr Decelis did not pre-empt that Ms Bowdler’s condition had worsened and would have led to her death,” he said.

Taking account of their criminal record, Mr Justice Galea Debono said Mr Decelis had five convictions which were tarnishing his criminal record. Among others, he was found guilty of violence, causing voluntary damage, threatening police and offending a police inspector.

He said Mrs Decelis had a clean record but that of her son was “colourful”. He said Jason Decelis has been convicted, among others, of being in possession of a firearm and of heroin, even inside the Corradino Correctional Facility where he had served 20 months after being found guilty of drug trafficking.

Mr Justice Galea Debono said that even after Rachel Bowdler’s case, while he was awaiting trial, Jason Decelis was convicted twice for drug possession and for possession of a firearm.

After taking into consideration the jurors’ request for the court to show mercy with the accused, the judge jailed Mr Decelis for a year-a-half – the maximum is two years. He jailed Mrs Decelis for 15 years and Jason Decelis for 25 years. He also ordered that the time they spent in preventive custody for this case be deducted from the jail term.

Assistant Attorney General Anthony Barbara prosecuted.

Dr Chris Soler and Dr Chris Cardona appeared for Carmel Decelis, Dr Malcolm Mifsud for Concetta Decelis and Dr Martin Fenech for Jason Decelis.