Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1403840
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 AUGUST 2021 NEWS our property. This is where Franġisk waited for him that Sunday morning. The rubble wall facing the street at this property was more than high enough to hide behind, but luckily for him, there was also a wall running perpendicular to the outside wall and about a metre shorter. This gave Franġisk the advan- tage of ambushing Ċikku as he went past, from a higher vantage point. This was where Franġisk waited, with two double-barrelled shotguns and at least one revolver, all loaded. Just as Vella went past his hideout Ċik- ku stood up and emptied both barrels from one shotgun into him, and imme- diately climbed over the wall and down into the street. Ċikku Vella had stag- gered a couple of metres away by now and Franġisk caught up with him and emptied the other shotgun into him. Ċikku still did not go down and Franġisk was worried that he was going to sur- vive, badly wounded maybe but alive. Franġisk had known about a murder attempt that had happened years before, only about a hundred metres from this exact spot. The would-be murderer had drilled a hole in his front door and wait- ed for his victim to go past. He then took a shot at him through the hole in the door and missed. He ended up locked at the mental asylum. Franġisk told us that this is what was haunting him at that moment, him not finishing the job so to speak, and ending up being locked up at the asylum. That was why, even though there was blood everywhere, he picked up one of his shotguns by the barrels and wielding it as a club, started bashing Ċikku with it. Ċikku must have still had some con- sciousness and tried to shelter behind a power pole, which happened to be there. The shotgun snapped in two from hit- ting Ċikku and the power pole. Even so, Ċikku still managed to stagger/crawl a few metres more before he collapsed. I could stop here and say the rest is his- tory, but I have to add one of the many other anecdotes from his… my life… just for those that think that he was a hero by evading the police. I knew that approximately for the last five weeks on the run, he was sheltered by one particular family. We knew the family from before and I fondly remem- ber going to their farm in the Fgura/ Tarxien area with Franġisk, when I was about five, to buy calves. At this age, Franġisk was my hero and he treated me well, like an elder broth- er should. Later on, after the incident, I had a couple of sleepovers at their farm too. One time as me and Franġisk were working together, he was talking about his time on the run and I suggested to him that he should thank that family for willingly helping him out. He just ex- ploded, telling me that I knew nothing because there was nothing willing about it. According to him, he showed up at their place in the middle of the night and held the parents at gunpoint, demand- ing shelter. He ended up hiding in their pigeon coop, as from there he could survey their whole farm and could keep an eye on the goings-on around him. It was made clear to the parents that they were not to leave the farm, as a family and some members had to stay behind as hostages. He told them that if he saw any suspicious activity, their family would be the first victims. All the time he spent there, he never left the pigeon coop, and all his needs, food and hygiene, were catered for by the eldest daughter. This young woman was also made to sleep nearby as a hos- tage. After a while, the family must have succumbed to the Stockholm Syndrome, with the daughter wanting to marry him. This was the "girlfriend" that was men- tioned in the papers at the time of his trial, and there was certainly no going to the local pub to have drinks, as some pa- pers suggested at the time. When I further suggested he should still thank them, he said that he had nothing but contempt for the whole family, be- cause they were so weak-willed. It had nothing to do with their hospitality but with his superior will, that he could eas- ily dominate them. To him, a loaded gun, aimed at their head was not an issue. A while ago, I got a phone call from a Maltese person living in Sydney. I did not know this person, even though they are from Mosta. After a little convers- ing together, I realised that this person did not just want to reminisce about our life in Malta but was really trying to get a brush with fame by speaking to Ċikku Fenech's brother. It then occurred to me that even nearly 10 years after his death, there are still many people trying to my- thologise him into some folk hero. When I came across the news that my brother's field would be transformed in- to a public garden, knew I could not just let it go past. To do so would be a disservice to the Maltese communities, both here in Aus- tralia and in Malta. I know that some will try to dismiss this as some sort of sibling rivalry. This might have been true in my teen years, until he let me know exactly what he was like. I did not hate him either and on every visit to Malta I always went to visit him. Every time it was the same, I would be welcomed, until he realised I would not be staying in Malta for good. Then I would be kicked out. Still, I went back hoping maybe he would change a little, but to no avail. One time he even suggested to me that I should abandon my family in Australia and move in with him. After all, as he put it there were many women in Malta to choose from. Hopefully those people who are con- templating naming a public garden after him, will realise what he was really like and desist. It will only do harm to future generations, who might try to emulate his behaviour. Franġisk ended up locked at the mental asylum. He told us the attempted murder of Ċikku was haunting him at that moment, him not finishing the job so to speak, and ending up being locked up at the asylum