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MALTATODAY 7 November 2018

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maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 7 NOVEMBER 2018 3 NEWS Thank you for participating! The last thing the PN needs now is speculation about its leadership – Claudio Grech CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Delia's ailing polls are setting up for a significant defeat in next year's European elections, but confirmed reports of his mari- tal separation and messages be- tween his allies and wife Nickie Vella de Fremeaux have por- trayed a troubled party leader with no chance of winning. "Louis Galea could be the only person to take on the party after 2019, lead it to the elections in 2022, and then have the PN hold an election for the new leader. I mean, which madman wants to take the helm after another trashing?" Nationalist MP Edwin Vassallo was quite forthcoming on the matter, insisting he had nothing to hide and could be quoted. "I am sick and tired of all this gossip and scaremongering," he said. "Our leader was elected democratically and yet, people within and outside the party are still trying to sabotage his leader- ship." Vassallo said the news of Delia's marital issues should not lead to his resignation or removal, since every family, business, company and organisation faced problems occasionally. "Let us not forget that Adrian Delia was elected leader by the party's members, in a first-ever for Malta," he said. "That in itself was the strongest due diligence exercise the party could have carried out." Another two MPs, who also spoke on condition of anonym- ity, confirmed rumours of Galea being mentioned as an interim leader. "There is no concerted effort by any group of MPs to get Delia to resign. News of the serious diffi- culties in Adrian's marriage have not pushed anyone to call for his resignation. But the general feel- ing is defeatist. Although some may be using this development to continue trying to highlight any perceived shortcoming in the leadership," one MP, sup- portive of Delia, said. Another MP would not con- firm if any names for Delia's possible successor had been discussed within the party, but he said that he "like any true Nationalist" would be open to considering any candidate for leader, as long as they repre- sented the party's values and core principles. Claudio Grech dismisses leadership bid… Yesterday afternoon, Nation- alist MP Claudio Grech issued a statement on his social me- dia profile quelling suggestions he could be vying for the PN's leadership. In a Facebook post, Grech, 44, paid tribute to Delia, whose political life has been rattled by press reports on a request for separation by his wife Nickie Vella de Fremeaux. "The last thing the PN needs now is speculation about its leadership. The PN leader is Adrian Delia, who was elected in the most open and represent- ative election of all time in the history of Maltese political par- ties. It is every MP's duty to be part of the integral work of the party," Grech said on Facebook. "While I appreciate all those who believe in me, my deci- sion on this matter was taken just over a year ago and I gave my reason," Grech said of his decision not to pursue the lead- ership contest of 2017. "As I said back then, my priority in this legislature is to serve as the voice of my constituents, and to strengthen the PN's policy framework to help the party evolve into an alternative gov- ernment." "As any party leader I've had the privilege to work with can confirm, even the current lead- ership knows of my full con- tribution to work towards this aim, which I intend doing in full serenity right to my last day in politics," Grech said. Grech is the PN's spokesper- son for the family and social policy, children and the unborn child, and was formerly an aide to the PN minister Austin Gatt before running for election in 2013. … but his aides say otherwise But aides to the Nationalist MP told MaltaToday that the only hurdle for Grech to take on the leadership challenge was a personal one. "He knows that he could unite Nationalists and offer a new challenge to Muscat in the next European elections, but he is seriously concerned about how this would impact his family," they said. Grech remains one of the more eloquent and level- headed speakers within the PN parliamentary group. His political career was moulded in the shadow of Austin Gatt, one of the more controversial PN ministers but also a formidable PN secretary general. Though a fervent pro-lifer and con- servative, Grech is widely re- spected by the business com- munity. Additional reporting by MaltaToday staff MATTHEW AGIUS THE time has come for "senseless actions by pedestrians" to be pun- ished by law, a court has said, as it reduced the sentence of a man found guilty of the involuntary homicide of a 10-year-old boy from 32 months to a suspended sentence. Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera, presiding the court of criminal appeal, confirmed Fatih Pancar's criminal responsibility but reduced the punishment to two years prison, suspended for three years. The court also confirmed the man's four-year driving ban and or- dered the release of the accused's Peugeot, which had been impound- ed for forensic testing. Ten-year-old Rodwan Aghil, a Libyan national, had been cross- ing the road in St Andrew's on 30 May, 2015, when he was hit by the Peugeot being driven by Fatih Pan- car, 38, from St Paul's Bay. Pancar had been living in Malta for around 16 years at the time. The judge agreed with the recom- mendations made by magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, presid- ing over the first court, who had called upon the legislator to con- sider the introduction of 'pedestri- an offences'. Pedestrians also had obligations, not just drivers observed the judge. "This court suggests that there ought to be sanctions upon those persons who chose to cross the road at a particular point, ignoring a pedestrian crossing or a safer spot along the road," Scerri Herrera said. It emerged from the evidence that the child had run out on the busy road, into the path of oncoming traffic. The court had heard witnesses testify to seeing the driver, who had driven across amber traffic lights at over 50km/h, fall to his knees and scream upon realising that he had run over the boy, who was thrown into the air upon impact with the car. The child died about an hour later. Lawyers Kris Busietta, Jason Azz- opardi and Julian Farrugia were counsel to the appellant. Judge calls for law to punish 'senseless actions' by pedestrians

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