Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1006805
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 JULY 2018 NEWS JAMES DEBONO MALTA'S national poet, Dun Karm Psaila, will be given a bigger audience when national literature prize-winner Walid Nabhan translates his masterpiece 'Il-Jien U Lilhinn Minnu' and a selection of his other poems in Arabic. Psaila's opus deals with the universal human condition and the individual's anguish in the face of the Creator. Maltese author Nabhan was born in Amman to a family of refugees from He- bron in Palestine during the Naqba, and arrived in Malta 28 years ago as a science stu- dent. For him, this is a unique opportunity to bridge cul- tures. "But I also feel torn be- tween the privilege of trans- lating Dun Karm into Ara- bic for the very first time in Dun Karm's opus to get Arabic translation by Nabhan MATTHEW AGIUS THE Attorney General's Of- fice has argued that magistrate, now judge, Consuelo Scerri Herrera had made a "serious error of judgment" when she handed what he described as a "far too easy" punishment to a driver who killed a father of three in an illegal street race at age 19. Ayrton D'Amato Quintano, now 24, received a suspended sentence from the court of magistrates last month for the 2013 killing of Filomeno Bona- via, 55, of Mosta. D'Amato Quintano had been racing Sean Borg, driving a BMW, in his father's Jaguar near Ghammieri farm, when the Jaguar overtook the BMW and crashed head-on into a pick-up truck being driven by Bonavia. Bonavia, who was driving in the correct lane at the time, died at the scene of the incident. That court, after taking into account the absence of any criminal record, the young age of the man at the time of the incident, his cooperation with the prosecution and the social inquiry report drawn up by his probation officer, had imposed a one-year prison sentence, suspended for two years. The man was also placed under a two-year supervision order and ordered to pay a fine of €2,000 within three years. His driving licence was suspended for one year. But this sentence did not go down well with the Attorney General's office, who argued that the court had been mistak- en when calibrating the pun- ishment. "The case in question doesn't deal with an unfortunate in- cident where, for example, a person was tired after a night shift, chose to drive anyway and negligently hit and killed someone," argued Assistant Attorney General and Head of the Criminal Prosecution Unit Philip Galea Farrugia in an ap- peal filed earlier this week. "In those circumstances a suspended sentence would perhaps be ideal. But here we have a death that was caused by bravado. Poor Filomeno Bo- navia did not die due to an un- fortunate incident… Filomeno Bonavia was killed solely and exclusively as a result of the bravado and arrogant behav- iour of [D'Amato Quintano], who of his own accord chose to race a Jaguar against a BMW on public roads. "It is the humble understand- ing of the undersigned that in these circumstances, the pun- ishment inflicted by the first honourable court amounts to a serious error of judgment and is manifestly disproportionate- ly attenuated for the circum- stances of the case, where an innocent person lost his life due to such arrogant and condemn- able behaviour," Farrugia said. The prosecutor argued that justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done, and "human life must be given more value and a clear message to society must be sent that the very dangerous practice of ille- gal street racing leads to serious and onerous consequences." In addition, said the AG, the assertion that D'Amato Quin- tano had cooperated with the prosecution was "absolutely untrue." At no point did he inform the police that he had been racing and had given them a different explanation. Only after the police received anonymous information and sought CCTV footage from the area did it emerge that he was racing on public roads. Finally, the admission of the accused was far from early, coming over four years after his arraignment, when all the evi- dence had been collected. The public prosecutor argued that while he understood that the victim's family "would not gain anything" were the appel- lant to be sent to prison, jus- tice required more than this. Any plea-bargaining arrange- ments would have to be for- mally signed and approved by the AG, "precisely because his interest is not that of any of the parties but that of the correct administration of justice," he said. magius@mediatoday.com.mt APPLICATIONS OPEN Monday 23 July 2018 Tuesday 24 July 2018 Wednesday 25 July 2018 Thursday 26 July 2018 Friday 27 July 2018 Monday 30 July 2018 Tuesday 31 July 2018 Wednesday 1 August 2018 A B C D – F G – L M N – S T – Z WHEN TO APPLY? DATES: SURNAME STARTING WITH: WHERE TO APPLY? MALTA The Students' House MCAST Main Campus Paola GOZO MCAST Gozo Campus JF De Chambray Street Għajnsielem All applicants must fill in the official Application Form (which can be collected from MCAST, Local Councils, or on the same date of application, from the MCAST Student's House) and submit it together with: • Original ID Card • Original Certificates/result slips (and photocopies) • School Leaving Certificate/SSC&P as applicable (and photocopy) Applicants aged 15 years on application date, must be accompanied by one of his/her parents/guardians. Applications without all the necessary documents, cannot be accepted. Applicants who will be sitting for SEC re-sit examinations in September 2018 and at the time of application (23 July – 3 August) do not satisfy the entry requirements of the course they would like to register for, can apply in another call for applications towards the end of September 2018. Applicants aged 16 and over may ask another person to present their application on their behalf. This trusted representative is to present the following documents when submitting the application form: • Trusted Representation Consent Form (which can be downloaded from www.mcast.edu.mt/consent) duly filled in and signed by the applicant on whose behalf the form is being submitted. • Application Form duly filled in and signed by the applicant • Original ID Card/Passport of both applicant as well as the trusted representative • All originals and copies of Qualifications Certificates/Result slips required for entry into the chosen course Applicants who will be abroad on application dates can submit their application before these dates at the Office of the Registrar, Students' House, MCAST Main Campus, Paola. The travel ticket must be shown as a proof that the Applicant will be abroad. Applicants who wish to apply for courses held in Malta, and who during the days of Receipt of Applications are residing in Gozo, may submit their application at the MCAST Gozo Campus, Għajnsielem. Applicants applying under the Maturity Clause must also present an Employment History Record for any work experience claimed as well as a motivation letter and CV. FURTHER INFORMATION /MCASTmt career.guidance@mcast.edu.mt 2398 7135 / 2398 7136 / 2398 7310 /MCASTmt VISIT HTTP://MCAST.EDU.MT/152 FOR OUR ONLINE PROSPECTUS Applications are received between 8:30am and 12:00pm. Leniency for boy racer who killed dad 'serious error' Not as contrite as expected: D'Amato Quintano's attraction to speed would seem to have persisted