70-year-old Iris Cassar, from Valletta, who suffered permanent disabilities and lost her daughter, Marthese Caruana, when a supermarket’s false ceiling collapsed on 21 July 1990, was awarded €40,730 in compensation by Mr Justice David Scicluna.

The tragedy also claimed the life of another person.

Francis Gauci, who was the owner of the Save-On supermarket in Sir Paul Boffa Avenue, Paola, has been ordered to pay the compensation.

Mrs Cassar, who was shopping with her daughter at the time of the accident, filed the case against Mr Gauci through the civil courts on 24 September 1992.

After she was pulled out of the debris, Mrs Cassar was rushed to the casualty ward of St Luke’s Hospital and was certified by medics to be suffering fractures in her left knee and right fibula, and heavy bruising all along her spine.

Testifying in court in 1997, medical expert Frederick Zammit Maempel, who examined Mrs Cassar after the accident, said Mrs Cassar continued to suffer leg and back injuries, which not only affected her mobility, but also resulted in permanent disabilities to around 12% to her body.

The court also took into account the testimony of psychiatrist Joseph Pisani, who in 1998 concluded that, eight years after the accident, Mrs Cassar was still suffering mentally from the traumatic accident in which she lost her daughter. To compound matters, Mrs Cassar was already suffering from a mild depression prior to the accident, which later intensified as she struggled to cope with life.

In the wake of the accident, Mrs Cassar experienced problems with her breathing, and was suffering from post-traumatic stress, lack of appetite and sleep and bouts of nausea. Dr Pisani said Mrs Cassar lost interest in life in general, and she no longer took part in activities which had previously given her great satisfaction.

She also regularly took pills in the hope that it would relieve her pain.

In his testimony, Mr Gauci, the supermarket owner, admitted that he had constructed much of the supermarket’s structures in 1988 and 1989, without the assistance or advice of an architect or building expert.

Following the accident, the court appointed several legal experts for their assistance in the inquiry, among whom were Professor Carmel Pule and architect Richard Aquilina. Examining the supermarket’s structures, Prof. Pule and Mr Aquilina told the court the supermarket consisted of three adjacent and interlinked stores. The supermarket’s roof was 20 courses high, supported by a false ceiling 10 courses high.

The false ceiling was constructed on hollow sections measuring an inch and a half in length and width. Attached with “only wires” to the false ceiling were several shelves.

Prof. Pule and Mr Aquilina concluded that the false ceiling was not professionally erected by Mr Gauci and that it was excessively loaded with merchandise at the time of the accident, which was the main reason why it collapsed.

The court also took into account the testimony of Janice Mizzi, an employee of Mr Gauci in his supermarket. She said she had often heard the roof creaking, and that she had often expressed her concern that an accident was waiting to happen. She had even advised Mr Gauci about the noises emanating from the roof, but the latter took no notice of her advice.

Lawyer Joe Brincat represented Ms Cassar, while lawyer James d’Agostino represented Mr Gauci.