Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1508940
NEWS 7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 4 OCTOBER 2023 Man jailed for four years over car-jacking, sexual assault in St Paul's Bay KARL AZZOPARDI A court has jailed a man for four years for stealing a woman's car and sexually assaulting her when she tried to stop him. 31-year-old Jeffry Varghese, an Indian national residing in St. Paul's Bay, was convicted of com- mitting a non-consensual sexual act on the victim, detaining her against her will, stealing the car she had been driving as well as causing damage to the vehicle. The incident took place on 24 August 2021 at around 7:30pm in Triq it-Turisti, St. Paul's Bay. Police had received a report from the woman who said that an Indian man had stepped into her car without authorisation and had touched her inappropriately while impeding her escape from the vehicle. After the woman had eventually managed to get out of the car, the man proceeded to drive away, causing €700 damage to the vehicle in the process. The victim had testified in Sep- tember 2021, explaining to mag- istrate Nadine Lia that her car had stalled in the middle of the road and that she was having dif- ficulty restarting the engine. The accused had been passing by and had offered to help the woman start her car, she said. "He got in and managed to start the engine and then started to drive away," she told the court. The woman had quickly climbed into the passenger seat and told the man to stop the car. Instead, she said, he started to put his hands all over her and tried to pull her on top of him. The woman was unable to get out of the car because Varghese kept pulling her back in, recalled the woman. "Then he told me 'they' would shoot me if I got out of the car. I was screaming at him to stop." The victim eventually managed to escape from the car, which Varghese then drove off in. Po- lice found the damaged car in the vicinity the next day, now with a big dent on the right-hand side and leaking oil. Varghese was arrested in Feb- ruary 2022, by police officers responding to a report of erratic driving on Triq it Turisti. The driver, who police later identified as the defendant, was found in- side a white Mercedes. The police officer who arrested Varghese told the court that the defendant appeared confused and did not answer any questions. Eventually a man approached the vehicle and identified himself as the person renting it, telling the police that the defendant was in- side the vehicle without his per- mission, at which point Varghese was taken into custody. Varghese chose to testify on 28 February this year, telling the court that he had been out with some friends when he saw a lady waving for help as her car was not starting and was partially block- ing the road. He claimed to have driven the car around the block "to allow the battery to charge" but said he could not recall that the woman had been seated next to him in the car, nor could he re- member anything other than that "because he was dizzy." He told the court that the next thing he remembered was being "relaxed" in the white Mercedes and being arrested by the police immediate- ly after. He had released a statement after his arrest, claiming to have been drunk at the time. Deciding the case, Magistrate Nadine Lia observed that the victim had given a detailed and clear account of the incident on several occasions, had released a statement to the police as well as having testified in court, and had remained consistent every time, recounting the same facts in the same chronological order and repeating the defendant's words and actions. Bystanders who happened to be present at the scene had con- firmed aspects of the version of events and the sequence in which they played out. The magistrate noted that Varghese did not deny being there on the date and time in question and neither did he deny coming into contact with the woman. "As such he does not contest what the victim states because he declared in both instances that when it came to the incidents, he had no memory or recollection of what happened since he was dizzy and drunk as he had been consuming alcohol which he had bought." "The defendant rests his de- fence primarily on the fact that he cannot remember anything that happened and as a result dis- tances himself from what could have happened in the car," said the magistrate, before going on to observe that one of Varghese's companions had corroborated the fact that he had been drinking and had approached the woman. Finding Varghese guilty of all the charges against him, the court condemned him to imprison- ment for four years. A three-year restraining order was also issued against the defendant in favour of the victim, starting from the date of his release. MATTHEW VELLA GOVERNMENT MPs on the commit- tee for public standards have abstained on whether to adopt a report by the Standards Commissioner on former planning secre- tary Michael Farrugia's actions in approving the Mrieħel high-rise zone after public con- sultation had been concluded. MPs on the standards committee adopted the report, which found an ethics breach by Farrugia, after the two Opposition members voted in favour. Government whip Andy Ellul said the reason for the abstention was that the MPs would not give a conclusive vote on the re- port without first hearing the submissions of Michael Farrugia in the commitee. Earlier on in the meeting, Nationalist MP Mark Anthony Sammut said the commit- tee should probe further the case with more questions, in a continuation of the investiga- tion. But Ellul said such an eventuality was only possible in the case that a Standards probe does not deliver a conclusive decision on an ethics breach The government MPs said it was the right of Michael Farrugia to give his own submis- sions on the decision of the Standards Com- missioner. But the Speaker insisted that in cases where a breach of code of ethics has been determined, the Standards committee could invite the person implicated to pres- ent their submissions on the decision, only if the report is adopted by the committee. The former planning parliamentary sec- retary, Michael Farrugia, breached ethical standards when he gave incorrect informa- tion on how the Mrieħel area had been in- cluded as a high-rise zone, after public con- sultation on the policy had been concluded. The investigation prompted by independ- ent election candidate Arnold Cassola in 2020 exonerated Farrugia from accusations that he lied about his meeting with Yorgen Fenech at Castille in 2014. But Standards Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi found that Farrugia "did not say the truth" when attributing the decision to include Mrieħel as a high-rise zone to a committee evaluat- ing public feedback on a new policy that was being drafted in 2014. The 2014 meeting with Fenech took place on the day that Farrugia informed the Plan- ning Authority CEO on government's direc- tion to include Mrieħel as a high-rise zone. At the time a new policy defining areas where high-rise buildings could go up was being drafted and it came into force in May of 2014. Fenech's family company, Tumas Group, had an interest in the Mrieħel zone and sub- sequently was involved in a joint venture project with the Gasan Group to develop the high-rise Quad Towers. The implication is that Mrieħel's inclusion as a high-rise zone came about after the meeting in Castille. However, Farrugia and then PA CEO Jo- hann Buttigieg, who was also present for the meeting, both denied the Mrieħel issue had been discussed. Referring to Farrugia's comment to the Times six years later that he did not have "such a meeting" with Fenech, the Stand- ards Commissioner said the MP did not lie because his words implied that he did not meet Fenech on the Mrieħel issue and not that he never met Fenech. But the commissioner does not appear to have bought into Farrugia's explanation that he was referring to an inter-ministerial com- mittee when he told the Times the Mrieħel suggestion emanated from a committee evaluating public feedback. A list of meetings that Yorgen Fenech had at Castille between 2013 and 2017 was pre- sented as evidence during the public inquiry into the murder of journalist Daphne Caru- ana Galizia. MPs adopt Standards' ethics breach report on Michael Farrugia Michael Farrugia (pictured) breached ethics when he gave wrong information as to how Mriehel was included as a high-rise zone in a new policy drafted in 2014