In the first of a two-part feature, Anthony Manduca lists some of the memorable comments made in The Sunday Times of Malta in 2021
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The parents and brother of Gunner Matthew Psaila, who died as a result of grueling military training 12 years ago, have broken their silence for the first time to express their disappointment at a recent court judgment that attributed part of the blame to him.
“The army he loved betrayed him because it did not protect him. Matthew lived for the army. Matthew was not to blame for what happened. He took the army very seriously,” his mother Marion says.
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Matthew’s father, Anthony, and older brother, Joseph, add: “We are disappointed by the court judgment because they keep insisting on pinning part of the blame for what happened onto Matthew. This is built on a false rumour that he could not swim. Matthew could swim.”
A judge has found that the Armed Forces of Malta should carry the bulk of the blame for the tragic death of a teenage soldier during a botched training exercise 12 years ago. But who is the army, as the victim’s uncle rightly asked on the day the court awarded nearly €180,000 in compensation to Matthew Psaila’s family.
That it had to take so long for the truth to surface is already sad but it gets even grimmer when one realises this was the fourth review of the tragedy.
For the record, the army had conducted an internal inquiry, the government had ordered an independent inquiry and the routine magisterial inquiry kicked in automatically.
A court ruling holding the AFM responsible for the death of a 19-year-old soldier during a training exercise 12 years ago has prompted his uncle to call out the “sham inquiry” that had failed to apportion blame following the incident.
On Thursday, the court awarded Matthew Psaila’s family €178,500 in compensation after deciding that the army’s failures “exceeded by far” those of the victim, who was 20% to blame for the fatal episode.
The remaining 80% was attributable solely to the Armed Forces of Malta, Madam Justice Joanne Vella Cuschieri ruled.
Psaila died in 2009, three days after a gruelling training course that included an exercise conducted in the water of Chadwick Lakes in cold weather.
The Armed Forces of Malta has been ordered to pay almost €180,000 by way of compensation to the family of a young soldier who died as a result of a gruelling training exercise at Chadwick Lakes 12 years ago.
Failures by the army “exceeded by far” those of the victim, who was attributed 20% of the blame for the fatal episode, the court decided.
The remaining 80% was attributable solely to the AFM which was to compensate the Psaila family €178,500 by way of damages for the incident.
The sum was awarded to the parents and brother of gunner Matthew Psaila, the 19-year-old soldier who had joined the army in 2008, before moving on to more intensive training as an infantry officer destined to join the army’s ‘elite’ arm.