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7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 1 JULY 2020 NEWS THE donation of a number of items which are related to the ship M.V. Lord Strickland by Charles De Micoli and his son Beppe De Micoli to Heritage Malta will be enriching the narrative of local seafaring. Once restored, these artefacts will be exhibited at the Malta Maritime Museum in Birgu. Originally used as a minesweep- er during the Second World War, the ship was then decommis- sioned and purchased by Anglia Shipping Company, of whom Gi- useppe De Micoli, Charles's fa- ther, was one of the major share- holders. The ship was turned into a passenger-cargo vessel offering transport services from Malta to Syracuse. Later on, in 1950, the vessel was sold to the legendary Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau who renamed it Calypso and fur- nished it with iconic status when he chose it to accompany him during his epic adventures. Once the war was over, many of the sea vessels which belonged to the Royal Navy were regarded as deadweight. Therefore, the An- glia Shipping Company saw the opportune moment to buy one of the decommissioned ships. "After purchasing the ship, they made some modifications to it so that it could serve its new pur- pose. These changes included the creation of a deck," explained De Micoli. A porthole and the thick round glass of another porthole, which were removed during this con- version, now form part of the lat- est donation to Heritage Malta. The other items consist of two marine bilge pumps that were located in the engine room and were used to extract any seawa- ter which made its way through the ship, a fuel pump which was utilised in 45-gallon tanks, to- gether with a brochure and pho- tos of the ship. Charles and his son Beppe De Micoli were glad to donate these items to Heritage Malta so that they could form part of the na- tional collection and be appre- ciated by all those who visit the Malta Maritime Museum. Items from M.V. Lord Strickland donated to Heritage Malta Beppe De Micoli with the Calypso model (Photo: Heritage Malta) Donated items from MV Lord Strickland with the Calypso model in the background (Photo: Heritage Malta) MATTHEWAGIUS FORMER police officer and ministerial driver, Paul Sheehan, has been found guilty of shoot- ing at a car which had clipped his wing mirror in 2014, and handed a suspended sentence. Sheehan, 46, who had been the driver for then home affairs minister Manuel Mallia, was hand- ed a sentence of 22 months in prison, suspended for three years by magistrate Rachel Montebello in a sentence that was handed down last week. Sheehan had originally been accused of the attempted murder of motorist Stephen Smith, who had clipped the parked ministerial BMW Sheehan had been in charge of, on 19 November 2014. he off-duty policeman had pulled out his side- arm and fired shots into the retreating vehicle. Claims of having fired warning shots into the air were disproved by bullet holes in Smith's car. Allegations of a police cover-up and the ensu- ing scandal had led to Mallia's resignation. In her judgment, magistrate Rachel Monte- bello observed that the majority of the evidence dealt with the fact that the cars had been moved before investigators had arrived on the scene. Although this may have prejudiced the preser- vation of the scene of the crime, it had happened after the shooting had occurred and was of "lit- tle to no use" in determining guilt in this case. "In any case," said the court, "it is easily deter- minable that…it had been the Acting Commis- sioner who had given the order" to move Smith's car and take it to the police garage. This emerged "unequivocally" from a transcript of a phonecall between the police officer on the ground and Acting Commissioner Raymond Zammit. In its reconstruction of the events leading to the shooting, the court said that after the im- pact, Sheehan had got inside the ministerial BMW and chased after Smith, stopping next to Smith's car in Kappara Valley road, Gzira. An argument ensued and was testified about by sev- eral eyewitnesses. Smith had told the court that "it was at that point that I just heard shouting and a lot of ag- gression as I was getting out of the car and then I could see a man, heading towards me shouting and really, really in a fit of rage and he was hold- ing a gun, it was at this point where I genuinely feared for my life and decided to leave the scene. … I was convinced that he was going to shoot at me." He quickly got into his car and drove off and heard two shots. Some distance down the road, his car shuddered to a halt. The eyewitnesses reported seeing an angry man shouting down his mobile phone, with a handgun in his other hand. The court, having seen recordings of the inci- dent taken on mobile phones and recording of the calls made by Sheehan disagreed with the re- ports provided by the court-appointed experts and distanced itself from their findings. Mag- istrate Montebello said that the two shots had been fired at the vehicle in quick succession as soon as it had passed in front of Sheehan and not as it was 30 to 40 metres away. The court said that the evidence had estab- lished that there was a much shorter distance between the accused and Smith's vehicle. It was also "obvious" that Smith's car had not turned any corners at the time of the shooting. It was clear to the court that the experts had not tak- en into account the shooter's changing position when calculating the bullet trajectories. Sheehan's defence had argued that Smith had been drunk and had been a danger to other driv- ers and himself, but the court said that the force used was excessive in the circumstances. Police officers do not have a special status or special powers at law regarding the use of firearms, said the court, and are expected to use them proportionately to the threat encountered. "For the rest, he must answer to the criminal law like anyone else, including the defence of legitimate self defence." The accused had argued that Smith had at- tacked him with a beer bottle, but the court was not convinced that Smith had any object in his hands during the argument or when the ac- cused was pointing the firearm at him. It did not emerge from eyewitness evidence, that Smith had attacked Sheehan at all said the court. The beer bottle was found, partially full, in the car's console cup holder. The court said there was "not a shred of ev- idence" to show that the shots were fired in self-defence or out of necessity. The Attorney General had later withdrawn the charge of attempted homicide, noted the court. Conducting a scholarly review of the doctrines and legal dispositions regarding attempted homicide and self-defence, the court said that it had concluded that there was an element of recklessness towards the possibility of causing grievous injury to the victim, finding him guilty of attempted grievous bodily harm, causing fear of violence using a weapon, damaging private property, possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime, breaching the peace, exceeding the limits of correction, and commit- ting an offence he was duty bound to prevent. Sheehan was sentenced to 22 months of im- prisonment, suspended for three years. The pistol and ammunition used was confiscated. A protection order for Smith was issued and Shee- han was ordered to pay €7,543 in costs. Assistant Commissioner Alexandra Mamo, Inspectors Jesmond Micallef and Saviour Bal- dacchino prosecuted. Ex-minister's driver convicted over 2014 shooting