Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/292371
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 9 APRIL 2014 News 6 Man stabs brother at City Gate JOHN PISANI A man was stabbed at 8:20am dur- ing an argument which took place yesterday at City Gate, Valletta. The victim was rushed to the Floriana Health Centre, but the aggressor remained still on the loose after es- caping before police arrived on the scene. MaltaToday is informed that the victim and the aggressor are broth- ers. So far the cause of their argu- ment remains unknown, except for the fact that one of them had a knife on him which he used to stab his brother with. District Police and officers from the Rapid Intervention Unit were on site within a few minutes, but the aggressor was nowhere to be found. The search for the aggressor remained ongoing by the time of go- ing to print. A spokesman for the police con- firmed that the victim suffered slight injuries. CHRIS MANGION SIMON Gordon Hegart, a British national living in Mosta, was grant- ed bail after pleading not guilty to charges of drug possession with in- tent to traffic. Prosecuting inspector Gabriel Mi- callef explained how the police saw Hegart trying to get into a Peugeot last Sunday. Suspecting the man was trying to steal the vehicle, the police stopped and searched both the man and the car. Upon searching the ve- hicle, officers found 100 ecstasy pills and 10 sachets of cocaine. Hegart claimed the car was his. Inspector Micallef arraigned He- gart and charged him with drug pos- session in circumstances denoting it was not for his personal use. The Briton was also charged with com- mitting the offense in close proxim- ity to a place frequented by young people and driving an uninsured and unlicensed vehicle. Magistrate Ian Farrugia granted Hegart bail against a deposit of €2,000 and a personal guarantee of €3,000. CHRIS MANGION THREE Libyan men were found guilty of slightly injuring other foreigners and damaging private property during a brawl in St Julian's. Late on Monday, at around 11:15pm, 32-year old Fausia Aluena Alhamed, Shukri Abo Ghani El Massri, 31, and Alhssin Omer Hssin Naser, 34, started harassing another group of foreigners. The argument escalated into a brawl during which two men, Bader Elsa- frouri and Ahmed Mosbah Hassan, suffered slight injuries. A pair of Oakley sunglasses belong- ing to Peter Tornyos was stolen in the scuffle and two parked vehicles, a BMW belonging to Dwayne Reid and a Kia belonging to Sergio Tanti, were also damaged. The three Libyans pleaded guilty to all charges. Magistrate Ian Farrugia handed Al- hamed and El Massri an 18-month jail term suspended for three years. Naser was given a two-year con- ditional discharge. Furthermore, El Massri was ordered to pay the sum of €343 in damages to Sergio Tanti and €150 to Peter Tornyos, while Alhamed was ordered to pay €592 in damaged to Dwayne Reid. The court also placed the injured Bader Elsafrouri and Ahmed Mosbah Hassan under a two-month protection order against a guarantee of €2,000 by the accused. Inspector Trevor Micallef prosecut- ed. TONIO Grixti, 23, of Valletta, was given a probation order and ordered to do community work after he pleaded guilty to 10 charges, includ- ing slightly injuring another man, damaging police property and re- lapsing. Inspector Trevor Micallef charged Grixti with slightly injuring Robert Normal Cauchi, breaking the door of his cell, threatened police offic- ers, being drunk in public, breach- ing public peace and good order, disobeying police orders and giving false details, and relapsing. The in- cident happened in the early hours of last Saturday, outside an estab- lishment in Paceville. The youth apologised to the offic- ers for his behaviour and pledged there will be no repeat of the inci- dent. The court noted that in the past, Grixti had already been fined and placed under probation for six months over charges of offending public morals and using obscene language. "Apparently you did not learn your lesson. What is worse is that you got drunk, hurt another person, disobeyed the police and vented your anger on private prop- erty", the Magistrate told the ac- cused. Magistrate Aaron Bugeja repri- manded Grixti for his actions, tell- ing him that if he thought his arrest was unjust, he should have sought redress, not taken it out on the offic- ers. The accused was placed under a three-year probation order. The court also ordered that Grixti is to perform 100 hours of community work without payment. Inspector Trevor Micallef pros- ecuted. SUDANESE national Sadik Musa was handed a suspended jail term after pleading guilty to abscond- ing from Malta without valid travel documents. The 23-year-old was returned to Malta by the Norwegian authorities after he was found to be staying il- legally in Norway. He pleaded guilty to the charges. Prosecuting inspector Mario Haber exhibited documents relat- ing to the identity of the Sudanese youth and the documents found in his possession. Considering the accused's guilty plea, Magistrate Ian Farrugia hand- ed Musa a six-month jail term sus- pended for 18 months. Lawyer Renzo Porsella Flores ap- peared for the accused. YESTERDAY in parliament Na- tionalist MP George Pullicino was guided by parliamentary secretary for Health Chris Fearne to submit a written question after he asked whether an investigation had been launched into a former minister's claims. Former health minister Godfrey Farrugia has claimed that an email he sent to the media to announce his resignation had "mysteriously disappeared". In an interview with the Malta In- dependent, Farrugia said he sent the email through his gov.mt account and was "perplexed" at how the in- tended recipients did not receive the email. He insisted he was sure he sent it from his tablet, outside Auberge de Castille, shortly after leaving his resignation letter with an OPM messenger. This evening in parliament, as Fearne was replying to a question ta- bled by MP Claudio Grech on a ten- der related to in-vitro fertilization, Pullicino raised a supplementary question as to whether the govern- ment will be investigating Farrugia's claims. "Will the government be inves- tigating the claims made by the former health minister?" Pullicino asked Fearne. Since the question raised was not related to the original question, Speaker Anglu Farrugia told Fearne that, if he chooses, the question should not be answered. Following the Speaker's advice, the junior minister said the question was not related to IVF. "A written question should be made," Fearne added. CABS film illegal hunting in Salina Briton charged with drug trafficking Three Libyans arraigned after brawl Youth gets 100 hours community work Suspended sentence for migrant returned to Malta Questions on former minister claims 'disappearing email' A team from the Campaign Against Bird Slaughter spotted and filmed two hunters stalking protected Stone Curlews between Salina and Maghtab at around 5:40am yester- day. CABS teams are currently moni- toring the countryside, while Malta derogates from the EU's ban on spring hunting. The birdwatchers alerted the po- lice, who responded quickly and managed to apprehend the two men, CABS said. One shotgun and two illegal bird callers were seized. The hunters were caught in the same area where two protected White Storks were killed on 23 March. CABS said that one of the hunt- ers arrested yesterday was a repeat offender. According to the new amend- ments to the Conservation of Wild Birds Regulations, he could be sen- tenced to two years in jail or to pay a fine up to €10,000. If found guilty, both men are expected to lose their hunting li- cense.