Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1186350
NEWS 8 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 20 NOVEMBER 2019 MATTHEW AGIUS MALTESE actress and Occupy Jus- tice activist Pia Zammit has testified in a libel case she filed against the un- ion weekly It-Torċa, over a front-page story it published in August in which it attempted to link her to Nazism. The newspaper had published a pho- to of Zammit wearing a Nazi costume back in 2009, taken backstage at the Manoel Theatre during a production of the comedy 'Allo 'Allo, based on a popular BBC sitcom. Zammit had been cast to perform as the character Michelle Dubois, a mem- ber of the French Resistance. In a sitting on Monday, Zammit told Magistrate Rachel Montebello that the play was about "fighting the SS". "Nowhere am I referred to as an actor. I was on the front page. Just my photo," said Zam-mit, going on to state under cross-examination that although the photo itself was not con-troversial, the context it was used in made it so. Occupy Justice had received an email from It-Torċa editor Victor Vella on August 2014, ask-ing for a comment on whether the "message" conveyed by Zammit's photo was in line with the organisation's thinking. Zammit had been informed of the email by a friend, as she had been abroad at the time. It was explained to Vella that the photo was a backstage snapshot and that Zammit would send a written reply to his question. Zammit had then posted a Facebook status, in which she explained the back- story to the pic-ture, before adding that it was "very dangerous to equate a role with an actress's personal life. Kindly desist." But far from desisting, the photo end- ed up on the newspaper's front page on August 18, together with an article inside. She told the court how she had re- ceived unwelcome comments and in- sults after the story had been shared. Vella, Sergio Galea Vincenti as well as Tony Zarb had all shared and com- mented on the story. The next week the story was resur- rected for another front-page appear- ance in which the actress was accused of offending the public by posing in Nazi paraphernalia, she said. In-stead of let- ting up, the stories continued. On Sep- tember 1, the newspaper published an ar-ticle titled 'Pia Zammit and the Swas- tika', by Desmond Zammit Marmarà. The message being broadcast by It- Torċa was that Zammit was "actually a Nazi", by using the picture 10 years after the performance, the actress said. Vella's lawyer, Aron Mifsud Bonnici, cross examined. Answering the lawyer's questions, Zammit explained that she was one of the people behind Occupy Justice, which she said was a slogan and not a group, the message of which was to fight for truth and justice. "I have a personal email and contact details out there. Why go through the inbox of Occupy Justice?" asked the actress. Zammit argued that the story was made libellous by its labelling of her photo as "contro-versial" and publish- ing it on the front page. With regards to the August 25 publication, "most of it was libellous - from the title to the use of the term 'posing'," she said. "I'm being accused of offending peo- ple by posing in Nazi paraphernalia. That's a lie. It was a photo in my cos- tume and props… I object to the use of the word 'pose'. It was a dress re-hears- al while costumes were being adjusted. I didn't stop to pose," she said. A second libel suit against Sergio Galea Vincenti will be ceded by Zam- mit after the court was told that the parties had reached an out of court set- tlement. Galea Vincenti had also writ- ten an apology. Lawyer Joseph Zammit Maempel rep- resented Zammit, while lawyer Mark Vassallo ap-peared for Galea Vincenti. NAZI LIBEL SUIT 'Torca never said I was actor' Pia Zammit A youth from St Paul's bay has admitted to robbing an elderly man of some €1,100 in a robbery aggravated by violence and the age of his victim. Inspectors Fabian Fleri and Lydon Zam- mit arraigned the 16-year-old Serbian youth on a solitary charge of aggravated theft. The youth pleaded guilty to pushing over his 74-year-old victim and robbing him in the accused's hometown of St Paul's Bay. The youth, who is not being named on account of his age, had followed the el- derly man home from an ATM, where he beat him up and took €1,100. Lawyer Josette Sultana said no bail re- quest would be made at this stage. The court ordered that a presentencing report be drawn up before it would pro- ceed to hand the youth his sentence. The magistrate addressed the youth's father, explaining that a probation officer would speak to them in order to compile the report. "I expect full cooperation with the probation officer, particularly from you," she said turning to the youth. The case continues in December. Youth admits to mugging 74-year-old MADAM Justice Edwina Grima will be hearing the appeal filed by three ministers against a decision to open a magisterial inquiry into the Vitals deal after Mr Justice Aaron Bugeja ab-stained from hearing the case due to the ongoing judicial appointments case filed by Re-pubblika. Ministers Chris Cardona, Konrad Mizzi and Edward Scicluna had filed the appeal the day af-ter Magistrate Doreen Clarke had confirmed that there were sufficient grounds for the in-quiry to be held. That appeal had originally been as- signed to Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera who recused herself on the grounds that her brother, Environment Minister Jose' Herrera was a colleague of the subjects. The case was then assigned to Mr Justice Bugeja who, in a decree delivered on Friday, also chose to recuse himself, making it clear that he was doing so due to the case filed by Re-pubblika, challenging the sys- tem of judicial appointments. Repubblika's case, in which a ref- erence was requested to the Euro- pean Court of Justice, at-tacked the appointment of six members of the judiciary who were appointed in April. Mr. Justice Bugeja is one of them. Mr. Bugeja decreed that despite having nothing to do with the case, his recusal was re-quired to have justice "seen to be done with utmost integrity, beyond any shadow of doubt and suspicions of impartiali- ty, prejudices, favours or injustices." The case continues. Second judge recuses himself in Vitals case MATTHEW AGIUS A woman who was grievously injured and nearly killed when her husband hit her several times in the head with a ham- mer was unable to recall details of the in- cident in court yesterday. The man, charged last week with the hammer attack, had been released on bail. The 61-year-old from Mellieha had been remanded in custody since his ar- raignment on 13 November after he pleaded not guilty to the brutal assault. The victim, who is also 61, had suffered multiple hammer blows to her head and face during the attack which took place at her home. She had been rushed to hospi- tal in a critical condition, but her condi- tion had improved enough in recent days for her to testify. The woman took the witness stand this morning, but told the court that she could recall nothing of the attack as a re- sult of the injuries she suffered. She had cooked for him, went to bed and woke up in hospital, she said. Last week prosecuting police inspector Clayton Camilleri had told the court that the accused had admitted to responsibil- ity for his wife's injuries during his inter- rogation. During today's sitting, defence lawyer Lennox Vella made another request for bail, his initial effort during the man's ar- raignment having had been turned down. This time the court upheld the request, magistrate Gabriella Vella releasing the accused from arrest against a deposit of €1,000 and a personal guarantee of €10,000. A protection order had already been issued during the man's first court appearance. Wife repeatedly attacked with hammer 'unable to recall' incident Mr Justice Aaron Bugeja