Father Jailed for Two Years After Father's Day Crash That Injured Infant Son

A Luqa man has been jailed for two years after a crash on Father's Day 2020 left his 21-month-old son with grievous injuries. The case serves as a sobering reminder of the dangers of driving without proper precautions – and without a licence [1].

Marlon Zarb, 37, was sentenced on Tuesday after a previously suspended sentence from January 2019 was rendered operative by Magistrate Yana Micallef Stafrace. The incident occurred at around 10.30am near the junction between Triq il-Kunsill tal-Ewropa and Vjal l-Avjazzjoni in Luqa, when Zarb lost control of his SUV and crashed into a nearby barrier [1].

While Zarb himself escaped without injury, his young son – who was with his father for the day – suffered grievous injuries in the collision. The boy's mother, who had entrusted her son to Zarb for Father's Day, chose not to testify in the proceedings [1].

Zarb's Defence of Low Blood Sugar Rejected

During the trial, Zarb claimed he had lost consciousness due to low blood sugar while taking the recently purchased vehicle on a trial run. "In this case I had no drugs and did not fight, I just fainted, as the doctors should have checked, and hit the barriers there," he told the court [1].

However, the magistrate was unconvinced by this explanation. "This only confirmed that Zarb needed to be more careful whilst driving," Micallef Stafrace noted, largely rejecting his defence [1].

Guilty on Five Counts

Police had issued Zarb with eight charges following the incident: grievous bodily harm, driving negligently, driving dangerously, driving recklessly, driving without a licence, driving without insurance, keeping a car on the road without licence or insurance, and committing a crime during the operative term of a suspended sentence [1].

The magistrate acquitted Zarb of the charges of reckless and dangerous driving. The charge of driving without insurance was also dismissed as time-barred. However, he was found guilty of the remaining five charges, most significantly the breach of his suspended sentence [1].

The magistrate found Zarb guilty of five charges, most crucially that he had committed a crime during the operative term of a suspended sentence [1].

In addition to the two-year custodial sentence now in effect, Zarb was fined €600 and received six penalty points on his driving licence [1]. He is currently undergoing separate criminal proceedings for attempted murder in connection with an unrelated stabbing incident in Marsa in 2021 [1].

Zarb has previous convictions for driving offences, including driving without a licence [1].