Driver in fatal crash has confiscated car returned due to procedural error

Anthony Chircop, convicted of involuntary murder for a fatal Gzira crash, has his Nissan Skyline GT-R returned after appeals court rules its confiscation was legally unfounded due to a prosecution oversight

By: maltatoday.com

Nov 29 2024
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Driver in fatal crash has con

Anthony Chircop, convicted of involuntary murder for a fatal Gzira crash, has had his Nissan Skyline GT-R returned after an appeals court ruled its confiscation was legally unfounded due to a prosecution oversight.

An appeals court has ordered the return of Anthony Chircop's Nissan Skyline GT-R after a procedural error invalidated its confiscation, despite his conviction for the involuntary murder of Stephanie Rapa in a high-speed crash.

Anthony Chircop had the Nissan Skyline GT-R he was driving at the time of the crash returned to him on due to a procedural error by the prosecution in his initial criminal conviction. The sports car, an appeals court noted, had never been formally listed in the acts of the case. Therefore, there were no legal grounds on which it could be confiscated, it concluded.

Chircop filed an appeal after a court handed him a two-year prison sentence, suspended for four years, after it found him guilty of the involuntary murder of 30-year-old Stephanie Rapa. In separate proceeding, Chircop and his insurer were ordered to pay €323,944 to the family of a pedestrian who died after being run over in Gzira by a car travelling at 140km/h.

Chircop, who had been driving towards Sliema when he collided with the woman, failed to stop. He had denied that he was driving at 140 km/h at the time. Furthermore, in June 2022, the First Hall of the Civil court ruled that the victim and the driver had been equally to blame for the incident, because Rapa had not been on a zebra crossing at the time, she was struck by the speeding car. The grieving parents then had filed an appeal.

In their appeal, they argued the street was well-lit, the road dry, and visibility good, with the incident captured on nearby restaurant’s CCTV camera. The Court presided by Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti and judges Giannino Caruana Demajo and Anthony Ellul, upheld the appeal, finding no contributory negligence by the victim.

Chircop asked the court of appeal to order the return of his confiscated vehicle, to revoke an €11,646.87 fine imposed on him and to strike off a two-year driving ban imposed on him. The court of appeal agreed to return the car due to the procedural error but threw out his other requests.

Chircop was driving at “extreme” speed and had a history of dangerous driving: he was convicted in 2001 of reckless driving, drunk driving in 2006 and driving without a licence in 2014. The fine and driving ban imposed on him by the first court was “more than deserved”, the court said.

Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri appeared for Chircop.