No public inquiry into Miriam Pace’s death, Abela says

A public inquiry into Miriam Pace’s death will not be appointed, despite calls from her family for one to take place, Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Monday.

Answering questions from journalists on Monday, Abela said that appointing a public inquiry would interfere with the criminal proceedings which are currently underway on the same case.

“When institutions are functioning, you can’t just take their work away from them and place it in a public inquiry,” he said after exiting a Cabinet meeting held at the Fgura local council.

The Prime Minister said that a public inquiry would risk interfering with the ongoing criminal proceedings, and that any investigation in parallel to this will definitely see the four accused claiming that their own hearing is being prejudiced.

Four people – contractor Ludwig Dimech, construction worker Nicholas Spiteri, and architects

Roderick Camilleri and Anthony Mangion – currently stand charged with involuntary homicide in connection with the death of Miriam Pace.

Pace was found dead in the rubble of her own home on March 2 last year, after it collapsed into a construction site which was being excavated next door.

Her family again reiterated their calls for a public inquiry on Monday, following the publication of a technical report drafted by the panel of experts which was appointed to look into the construction industry following the tragedy. That report found, amongst other things, that a particular practice used within the industry for excavation is ‘nothing short of playing Russian roulette with the lives of third parties’.

“That is why the publication of this report confirms the family’s belief that a public inquiry should be launched right away,” the family said prior to Abela’s statement.