The mother of Jean Paul Sofia, the 20-year-old young man who died in a construction site collapse in 2022, Isabelle Bonnici, has condemned the reinstatement of one of the men accused in relation to her son’s death to the Lands Authority.
In a post on the Ghal Jean Paul Facebook page, she said she was outraged that the accused has been reinstated within the Lands Authority, despite facing criminal charges over the fatal incident.
Bonnici said that the developer, Kurt Buhagiar, who is facing a court case for involuntary homicide, has been back on the government payroll for several weeks.
She claimed the decision for the accused to resume his post at the Lands Department was taken while Minister Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi was still responsible for the portfolio.
“This accused person, charged over the involuntary killing of my son, has truly gone back to work! He’s been working for several weeks,” she wrote.
Apologising for having previously referred to Minister Owen Bonnici instead, she insisted that the current Minister should have kept the accused suspended.
“He should have kept him suspended as he was,” she said.
Minister Bonnici, she added, had responded to her directly, saying it is the public administration, rather than the political leadership, that decides whether an accused person returns to work.
"As far as I know, to apply for a government job, one needs a clean conduct. This man had already been found guilty in another case and was jailed, according to media reports!" Bonnici said.
She also pointed out that her son had died on government-owned land which had been awarded to the accused and another man, who is also facing ongoing criminal proceedings.
Bonnici said that she would update the public on the situation and thanked supporters for their solidarity, pledging to continue campaigning for safer, cleaner construction sites in memory of her son and other victims in the sector.
Sofia was found dead buried under the rubble of a structural collapse he worked at after a 14-hour search. Five others were rescued from the site, critically injuring three of them.
In July 2023, all Labour MPs present in Parliament voted against a PN motion calling for a full public inquiry into his death, replacing it instead with a government motion urging quicker completion of the magistrate’s inquiry.
However, just days after the parliamentary vote, Prime Minister Robert Abela performed a U‑turn and announced that a public inquiry would be convened alongside the ongoing magisterial process.
Buhagiar co-owned the timber factory site, together with partner Matthew Schembri on government-leased land.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Minister Zrinzo Azzopardi referred to the reports regarding the reinstatement of the Lands Authority employee.
"The decision was an administrative one made at the discretion of the Authority's administration, and on my part as Minister, I never gave consent to or approved this decision," Zrinzo Azzopardi said.