Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1443936
15 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 19 JANUARY 2022 EUROPE MATTHEW AGIUS ACCUSED remanded in custody, with defence lawyer asking court to recommend him to be held at the forensic section of Mount Carmel Hospital A man from Għaxaq has been remanded in cus- tody on charges relating to a fight between him and several family members, which resulted in his septuagenarian father suffering slight injuries. The 53-year-old truck driver was arraigned be- fore magistrate Rachel Montebello by Inspector Audrey Micallef, who told the court that on 16 January, the police had received reports from five family members of the accused, including his fa- ther, brother and son about an argument which escalated. The accused's father had been slightly injured in the fight, which the inspector added, had taken place in the presence of the accused's seven-year- old nephew. The other relatives were threatened, said the inspector. The man was subsequently arrested and taken into custody. After the charges were read out to the accused in court this morning, Magistrate Montebello ex- plained his rights to him and asked what he would be pleading. A not guilty plea was entered by de- fence lawyer Mario Mifsud. Mifsud said he would not be requesting bail at this stage, but asked the court to recommend that the accused be held at the forensic section of Mount Carmel Hospital. The prosecution did not object to the request, which the court subsequent- ly upheld. The magistrate, pointed out that she could only recommend and not order the Corradino Correc- tional Facility director to comply, however. Man accused of injuring elderly father, threatening five relatives in family row LUKE VELLA 2.5 million passengers travelled through Malta International Airport in 2021, a 45% increase over 2020 but still falling short of pre-pandemic levels, with just a 34.8% recovery on 2019. Italy and the United Kingdom had the market's biggest share with a combined 19%, followed by Germany, France and Poland. "After the first half of the year, air travel started to gain momen- tum on the back of increased stability and an improvement in consumer confidence, with passenger movements for the third quarter of 2021 more than tripling over the previous quar- ter," MIA said. October was MIA's best per- forming month with more than 428,000 passenger movements recorded, attributed to a de- layed peak in the demand for leisure travel, spurred by the easing of travel requirements as the year progressed. "The instant impact on air travel of the introduction of tighter restrictions towards the end of the year, once again highlighted that our industry's recovery remains at the mercy of how governments respond to the changing epidemiologi- cal situation. The introduction of stricter and uneven entry requirements across Europe at the end of 2021 has already led to the cancellation of around 850 flights for the first quarter of 2022," MIA CEO Alan Borg said. He remarked that Summer 2022 is expected to be charac- terised by competition among similar destinations, in view of vaccination uptake across Eu- rope continues to increase. Borg urged government to shift fo- cus on a post-COVID strategy, which according to him could give the industry confidence to invest in businesses. Malta's recovery for the period between January and November 2021 stood at 33.5%, lagging be- hind that of other Southern Eu- ropean countries such as Greece (52.5%), Cyprus (44.3%), Spain (41.7%), and Portugal (40.3%), despite Malta International Air- port's success in retaining more than 70 per cent of its connec- tions for 2019 throughout the year under review. "Given the challenges that per- sist in the first quarter of 2022 and the instability within which the aviation industry continues to operate, Malta International Airport plc does not have suffi- cient data to provide the market with reliable guidance at this time," MIA warned. 2.5 million passengers travelled through MIA in 2021 MATTHEW AGIUS A man from Żabbar has denied stabbing and attempting to kill his wife with a chisel in a domes- tic violence incident. Police inspectors Darryl Farr and Sherona Buhagiar, assisted by prosecutor Kaylie Bonett from the office of the Attorney Gener- al told magistrate Rachel Monte- bello how on 14 January, Żabbar police had been informed that a woman had been stabbed. Officers went to scene and found her on the floor surround- ed by three men. Two of the men were later identified as the vic- tim's children and the other man as her husband. The court was told that state- ments were taken from the men, with the children telling the po- lice that they had seen their fa- ther attacking their mother with a chisel. They had added that their father suffered from par- anoid schizophrenia and so the accused was initially taken to Mount Carmel hospital. Magistrate Ian Farrugia was carrying out an inquiry into the incident, inspector Farr said. Af- ter his discharge from the hospi- tal, the accused was questioned by police and did not answer any questions, the inspector added. The court warned the accused that he was being charged with a serious offence, informing him that he had the right to remain silent and that anything he said could be brought as evidence against him. The accused, who told the court he worked as a technical officer, pleaded not guilty. Both prosecution and defence asked the court to order a ban on the publication of the name of the accused or the victim. The court immediately upheld this request in view of the nature of the charg- es and the case, imposing a ban on the publication of the name of the accused and the victim. Magistrate Montebello also up- held a request for the issuing of a protection order in favour of the accused, explaining to the ac- cused the serious consequences of breaching it. Bail was not requested at this stage. The court, in view of a medical certificate presented in the acts of the case, recommended that the accused be held at the forensic section of Mount Carmel Hospi- tal. Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri appeared for the accused. Lawyers Franco Galea and Licia Cordina ap- peared for the victim. Zabbar man accused of attempting to murder wife with chisel