Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/313770
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 18 MAY 2014 3 THE son of a 90-year-old elderly resi- dent in one of Malta's private homes was forced to hand over her voting document to the police, in spite of his "well-founded fear" that the dementia patient could be coerced into voting for candidates in the European elec- tions, under undue influence of staff there. 5,069 elderly residents were yester- day eligible to vote up to 10pm. But a concerned voter yesterday said he was not allowed to take the voting document to his mother, and instead was forced to hand it over to the po- lice officer who came to collect the document. "My mother suffers from mild-to- moderate dementia… she needs famil- iar surroundings and familiar people, she has only peripheral and blurred vi- sion, she doesn't watch television. She gave us her voting document because she had no intention of voting. "My fear is that by having had to hand back the voting document [yes- terday], she is vulnerable to staff ask- ing her to vote for candidates she is not aware of." Her son yesterday told MaltaToday that a police officer came to his house personally to demand the voting doc- ument so that it is placed in his moth- er's hands, or else face police charges. "I spoke to an electoral commission- er, after the police told me that my mother 'had to have' her voting docu- ment just in case she actually decides she wants to vote before the 10pm deadline. I explained that she suffers from dementia. "Additionally, she has a dual citi- zenship: I argued that she might be interested in voting for candidates in another member state. Would hospi- tal staff or the assistant electoral com- missioners on duty at the home, be aware of this voting right?" Her son said the electoral commis- sioner said the AECs on site would ask his mother whether she wanted to vote. "I explained that I felt safer if she did not vote, because she is very vulnerable to strangers due to her de- mentia. "Dementia sufferers are helpless in such situations, and if she actu- ally votes she would have forgone her right to vote for candidates of her oth- er member state's citizenship." News CHRIS MANGION KENNETH Ellul, 39, of Marsascala, was yesterday sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment after a jury of nine men and women found him guilty of robbery and assault on former Labour MP Anthony Zammit in his house. The case goes back to 12 August 2008, when after having dinner at a client's house in Bahar ic-Caghaq, Zammit returned to his Zebbug home. As he lay on his bed, he was assaulted by three hooded men. The aggressors tied him using the wire of his bedside lamp and ties from his wardrobe. During the two hours that followed, the victim was constantly beaten and suffered grievous injuries. The culprits left the house through the front door, but escaped on foot after their geta- way car failed to start. The trial by jury started on Mon- day. Over the following three days, the jury heard the prosecution's wit- nesses – with the prosecution's main witness being Christopher Shepherd who recounted how another person had told him that Ellul was involved in the theft. Another witness, Mark Anthony Ellul, explained that on the way to the Detox Centre, the accused had a heart-to-heart conversation with him during which he admitted his involvement in the robbery. The prosecution's final witness was the victim – Prof. Anthony Zammit. On Thursday, after her introduc- tory address, defence lawyer Josette Sultana summoned her only witness in this case – the accused himself. Ellul denied any connection with the 2008 robbery from Zammit's resi- dence. However under the prosecu- tion's heavy questioning, the lisp that Zammit claimed his aggressor had, became evident in Ellul's speech. Ellul stood charged of seven charg- es, including holding Zammit against his will, aggravated theft and theft of a car, carrying an unlicensed weap- on, assaulting the MP, and causing Zammit grievous injuries. After seven hours of deliberation, at 3.40pm with a vote of seven to two, the jury found the Marsaskala man guilty of the charges. After the jury pronounced the ver- dict, Sultana pleaded with the court that in delivering judgement, the judge takes into consideration that the accused had reformed his life and managed to kick his drug habit. Prosecuting lawyer Lara Lanfranco argued that this was a serious case which could have had a worse end- ing. "Going through Ellul's police record, we see a criminal career which lasted from 1994 to 2012," de- manding that Ellul get a prison sen- tence of over 10 years. Reading out the judgment, Mr Jus- tice Lawrence Quintano said that notwithstanding the defence's plea, the jurors had delivered a strong ver- dict which could not be ignored. In his decree, Quintano argued that Ellul had committed an "ugly" crime and that people should not have to fear of any attacks in their home but conversely, they have to protected. Anthony Zammit Enemalta audit over former chairman's spend CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Tranter was chairman of Enemalta during which time the controversial decision to choose Danish firm BWSC for the supply of new turbines for an exten- sion to the Delimara power station was taken. His conflict of interest – he was a business partner of BWSC's local agent Nazzareno Vassallo, of Vas- sallo Builders Group – was ignored by the investments ministry at the time. Tranter however did not at- tend board meetings discussing the BWSC tender. Throughout his Enemalta chair- manship, Tranter was a director of Vassallo Builders subsidiaries Care- malta, LBM Breweries and Vassallo Joiners, and a co-shareholder in soft- ware company Makeezi with Vas- sallo Builders itself. Tranter resigned as chairman in February 2010 when finance minis- ter Tonio Fenech took over Enemal- ta: MaltaToday had then revealed Tranter was a director of Sunray Malta, a company sold to US solar power giant SunPower for €200 mil- lion and which was in partnership with Vassallo Builders Group in an expression of interest to provide the government with 75,000 square me- tres of solar panels. Tranter returned in the public eye as a witness in the Public Accounts Committee hearings on the procure- ment of oil supplies by Enemalta, held shortly after MaltaToday broke the story of kickbacks paid on the supply of oil consignments to En- emalta. When asked about the Auditor General's report that flagged serious shortcomings on fuel procurement during his time, Tranter admitted that there was cause for concern on the findings. "It doesn't mean that this report never affected me, or that I was com- fortable with me not being able to talk about it. It cast a doubt on many people who gave a lot of their time to Enemalta, work which we did in the best interest of Enemalta. I respect the recommendations. Enemalta has evolved, and yes more evolution is needed. If I appear relaxed doesn't mean I'm comfortable. Because I am highly uncomfortable with this report." He also told the PAC that Austin Gatt had asked him to accept the post of chairman as successor to Tancred Tabone – now facing crimi- nal charges of bribery as one of six people indicted on the alleged fuel kickbacks. "This came as a surprise to me," he recounted during that PAC hearing, in which he revealed that Gatt was a family relation of his wife's. He had described Gatt as his "boss" throughout his chairmanship. "My boss was the minister. Things relat- ed to risk management and fuel pro- curement, I used to refer to minister and Enemalta board. Through emails I would inform him of who won [fuel contracts] and which decisions were taken. In hindsight, I now think I should have included that informa- tion in the sealed envelope." 12 years for man who robbed former MP Elderly homes' voting day rankles with son of dementia sufferer