Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1498713
7 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 MAY 2023 Enemalta would like to bring to the market's attention the upcoming judicial sale by auction of various data centre equipment and material. The full list of items to be put up for sale, including, a valuation report by a court expert will be shared with any interested bidder free of charge by sending an email on datacentreauction@enemalta.com.mt. Date: 10th May, 2023 at 10.30am Location: Data Centre, One (1) Chamber at the former A Station, Marsa Power Station, Triq Belt il-Ħażna This advert is not to be taken as advice on court procedure and any interested bidders are to make their own independent verification and seek advice if they deem necessary. Investigation into Ħal Far detainee death still ongoing two years on NICOLE MEILAK THE death of a Sudanese teen at the Ħal Far detention centre in 2020 is still under magisteri- al and police investigation, ac- cording to information received by MaltaToday. Nebil Abdula, who was 17 or 19 at the time, died at the Ħal Far detention sector on 2 Sep- tember 2020, with a govern- ment statement released on the say saying Abdula had falled off a fence while trying to escape the closed Lyster Barracks at 5am. Abdula was given medical as- sistance by nurses at the cen- tre but was then taken to Ma- ter Dei Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at around 11:15am. He suffered internal bleeding after sustaining injuries to his abdomen, eventually resulting in his death. Abdula had been positive for COVID-19 at the time of death. Two years on, police investiga- tions and a magisterial inquiry are still ongoing, a spokesper- son told this newspaper. Abdula was one of 20 detained migrants who attempted an es- cape from the Lyster Barracks' Hermes block the day of his death, by dismantling an outer wall on the second floor and climbing up a three-storey high wire fence. Footage of the film captured by a Detention Services Unit member, and seen by a Council of Europe delegation, showed two migrants falling from the fence. Abdula was seen falling from the fence in this footage, land- ing on his side. After the fall, he got up and walked back to his accommodation block. While the incident happened at around 5:30am, it was not until around three hours later at 8:15am that Abdula was seen by a nurse, despite repeated calls for help. He was declared dead soon after arriving at the hos- pital, and a magisterial inquiry was opened into the incident. The Council of Europe dele- gation said that it "cannot reas- sure itself that staff, including healthcare staff, had reacted sufficiently promptly when cru- cial help was needed to save this young man's life from the effects of suspected internal bleeding over a period of at least three hours." The Council of Europe has re- quested a copy of the full death certificate and Magistrate's re- port to be submitted to the At- torney General. In 2020, the year of the COV- ID-19 pandemic, several es- cape attempts were made at the Hermes Block, with a group of 21 detainees in June 2020 dam- aging a wall during one such at- tempt, and another five escap- ing in a separate attempt that month. In another attempted escape on 18 September 2020, a private security guard shot the escaping migrants using a personal shot- gun. The security guard, Darren Bonello, was charged with at- tempted murder and pleaded not guilty. The 27 people who tried es- caping the centre were also re- manded in custody and charged with participating in a riot. A number of migrants man- aged to escape but were later recaptured. Some migrants alleged with the Council of Europe delega- tion that members of staff at the Ħal Far detention centre shook the fence while the migrants were climbing up, causing them to fall to the ground. They also alleged that staff members beat them up with batons during es- cape attempts on 23 August and 2 September 2020. "One of them suffered a frac- ture of the scaphoid bone in his right hand and had also sus- tained a laceration on his head. He spent four days in Mater Dei Hospital being treated for his injuries," the report says. The delegation said it also re- ceived four separate allegations of unwarranted pepper spray use by guards in the detention centre. "For example, one incident in- volved a migrant being allegedly pepper sprayed by a Detention Service guard for looking out through the corridor's window bars and refusing to go back in- to his dormitory." Such incidents were alleged to have happened between March and June 2020. nmeilak@mediatoday.com.mt Sudanese teen fell during botched escape attempt but was only given medical assistance three hours later, Council of Europe report finds The Ħal Far detention centre