Vladyslava Kravchenko was insulted by the judge's decision to retry a director whose malpractice caused her paralysis in 2008 ©Getty Images

Paralympic swimmer Vladyslava Kravchenko has described a judge's decision to retry a company director found guilty of the collapse of a structure that paralysed her in 2008 as an "insult".

The Maltese athlete endured life-changing injuries from the incident when she was just 17.

The former gymnast suffered a spinal cord injury when a lighting structure fell on her during a party in Qawra.

Maurice Attard, the director of the lighting company, was sentenced to a 10-month jail term over the incident in 2016.

His lawyers appealed, arguing the Court of Magistrates had not asked the accused whether he wished to be tried summarily or before the criminal court.

This meant that Attard had "tacitly" accepted to have the case heard by a magistrate’s court.

Earlier this week, Judge Giovanni Grixti sent the case back to the magistrate’s court to be heard afresh.

"It is true that my injury was the most severe, but I was not the only one injured," Kravchenko said, as reported by the Times of Malta.

"It is an insult to all the people who have been affected by this accident and also to the taxpayers.

Vladyslava Kravchenko was awarded €463,465 in compensation for the incident that left her paralysed ©Getty Images
Vladyslava Kravchenko was awarded €463,465 in compensation for the incident that left her paralysed ©Getty Images

"It took 13 years to establish that the accident occurred as a result of shortcomings in the health and safety measures at a public event and now, because of a procedural mishap, we are back before the Court of Magistrates.

"How many more lives need to be negatively affected, or sometimes even taken away, before health and safety is given priority?

"When there is a breach, those who are responsible should be brought to justice and those affected should be compensated, all within a reasonable time frame."

She called for an investigation into how the formality was overlooked to ensure it is not repeated.

"Whereas this week’s decision guarantees the procedural safeguards of the accused, it is a pity that procedural defects slip between the cracks in the first place," added Kravchenko, to the Times of Malta.

"Reforms to the court system should ensure that such mistakes do not happen."

In 2017, the court awarded Kravchenko €463,465 (£396,291/$535,818) in damages, to be paid by the St Paul’s Bay local council, organisers of the event, Sonlit Ltd and Attard.

Four years on, Kravchenko is still waiting for the compensation.

"The decision has been appealed by the defendants and we are still waiting for the appeal date to be set," she said, as reported by the Times of Malta.

The 29-year-old represented Malta at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games alongside Thomas Borg but neither was able to win a medal.