Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1078260
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 FEBRUARY 2019 KARL AZZOPARDI THE dangers old people face when living alone are well known, but the gravity of some of the more harrowing experi- ences they face is not always understood by everyone. For people like Gerit and Leli Mifsud, living in a quaint se- cluded farmhouse in the north of the island should repre- sentative the bucolic peaceful- ness of the Maltese country- side. Their welcoming smiles, the sound of dogs barking as visitors walk up to their farm- house, belie the extraordinary ordeals that have afflicted the couple: victims to a string of robberies that stretch back as far as 2004. This is indeed the reality of people like the Mifsud couple, whose possessions were stolen in a series of burglaries that has left them helpless, and des- perate, at their cruel fate. Leli, once a mechanic who also worked in Libya, says his family has been afflicted by re- petitive robberies even since when they first lived in Naxxar, prior to moving into a more se- cluded farmhouse. "I had seen a man strolling back and forth from my bedroom window, while receiving anonymous calls on my mobile phone. When I returned to my garage the next morning, to continue working on a car I was repair- ing for a customer, I found the garage cleared of all the equip- ment I was using, on my part- time job. I couldn't believe my eyes, I found the garage door opened and every tool I had, stolen," he said. Leli estimates that he lost some Lm5,0000 (€11,646) in mechanical equipment that was stolen. "The oil leak from the truck they used to load the tools was still streaking the ga- rage's ramp," he said, leading him to assume that the thieves had just left his premises when he discovered the burglary. But Gerit suffered an even heavier loss, when the house was burglarised of some €4,000 in cash and the jewellery she had inherited from her dear mother. She had just arrived home from a day of fishing, a hobby she enjoys in her free time, when she found the kitch- en lights turned on. To her dis- may, the kitchen window was cracked open and items that used to sit on her windowsill were scattered across the floor. The guest bedroom connected to the kitchen had been raided by the intruders. "I remember going to the bedroom and all I could see were opened jewel- lery boxes scattered across the room," she said. The thieves had taken every single piece of precious item in their house, including the gold she had inherited from her mother. Grasping at her ring finger and crying, Gerit said that even her wedding ring had been stolen. Another €3,800 in cash that was stashed in the house, to pay for a knee op- eration for the old woman, was also taken. "I cried so much when I saw they had taken eve- rything," she said. Gerit's heartbreak did not stop there. Entering the cou- ple's household, one immedi- ately recognises her love for animals, as dogs and cats greet visitors. The visibly distraught woman recalled the day her husband discovered the cou- ple's dogs had been killed in cold blood. "I remember my husband, one day, simply shouting 'blood! blood!', while I was out in the neighbouring fields we use to grow vegetables," Gerit says, fearing that her husband had injured himself, only to find her three dogs slaugh- tered. "I couldn't believe my eyes. I saw my three dogs lying there in pools of blood, gashed and stabbed in the most inhu- mane manner possible," she said, tears running down her cheeks. Gerit had been raising the dogs since they were puppies, as people used to leave the un- wanted pups on her doorstep. "I can come to understand why people would want to steal gold and money… but to kill innocent dogs? I remember one of the dogs was stabbed so violently that her hipbone was sticking out of her dismem- bered body," she said. The couple's saga has not ended. For as recently as a fort- night ago, early in the morn- ing, the couple heard knocking on their front door. The elderly woman recalled how a man, whom she de- scribed as having a thick for- eign accent, asked her to open the front door, asking for someone named 'Robert'. The couple refused the man entry, but he kept on insisting. "I was scared and the first thing that popped into mind was telling him that if he didn't go away I would call my son who was a police sergeant," she said. The man eventually left, never to be seen again. "I don't feel afraid, I feel an- gry," Leli says, at the problem- atic prospect of being targeted by thieves roaming around se- cluded parts looking for hous- es like theirs to be ransacked. "Wouldn't you feel angry if your property was stolen, if your wife had her gold stolen or if her dogs were killed?" he exclaimed. Gerit's feelings are mutual. "I'm not afraid any more. They can't take anything more from me. I'm only afraid they will hurt me," she said. Leli and Gerit are still seeking justice on who executed the robberies, having only heard about the man who killed their dogs. "We only heard about the guy who killed our dogs from a family friend, not even from the police… the rest are still at large," Gerit said. NEWS The European Commission is looking for a provider of for the premises of the EU-House in Valletta, Malta. Cleaning services The Contract Notice for the restricted tender procedure ref PR/2018-20-INF/LAV was published on 25 January 2019 in the Official Journal of the European Union, OJ S S18. Deadline for the submission of requests for participation is 25 February 2019. All relevant information and tender documentation can be found at: https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft-display.html?cftId=4385 REQUEST TO PARTICIPATE Couple targeted by thieves multiple times live in fear of another burglary Leli and Gerit Mifsud are still seeking justice on who executed the robberies, having only heard about the man who killed their dogs "They can't take anything more from me. I'm only afraid they will hurt me"