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€0.90 WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION WEDNESDAY • 4 JUNE 2014 • ISSUE 367 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY Editorial - PAGE 9 BY CHRIS MANGION THE father of 15-year-old Lisa Maria Zahra, who died in a suicide from atop Dingli Cliffs on 19 March, lashed out at the man accused of as- sisting in her death, lunging towards Erin Tanti from the witness stand in a dramatic court hearing yesterday. Tony Zahra, the entrepreneur, was visibly under stress in recounting the death of his wife when his daughter was just two years old, having to bring up Lisa Maria Zahra without a mother, and having lost his daughter in a bizarre love pact gone wrong. At an emotional point during his testimony, as Tanti sat in the dock sobbing, Zahra lashed out at him, ac- cusing him of murdering his daugh- ter, calling him "a bastard", and demanding the reason why he had killed his daughter. The 23-year-old supply drama teacher, who worked at Zahra's school St Michael's Foundation, is being accused of the girl's murder, assisting in her suicide, the defile- ment of a minor, corruption of a mi- nor, abuse of a position of trust, mis- use of technology, and possession of indecent material involving minors. Magistrate Audrey Demicoli sus- pended the hearing during the com- motion and ordered that the accused be taken out of her hall, when in the middle of Zahra's evidence the courtroom erupted in chaos. Lawyer Joe Giglio, appearing for the victim's family, had just asked the witness what he felt when returning home on 19 March from a business trip in Dubai, to find that his daugh- ter had gone missing. An unbridled anger took over, with Zahra flying off the witness stand as he tried to assault the accused. Held back by police officers and lawyers, Zahra lashed out at Erin Tanti: "You entered my house, abused my daughter and killed her. You killed my daughter. You bastard, you killed her". The victim's father was surrounded by relatives and lawyers who offered him solace and calmed him down. Magistrate Demicoli urged him to calm down for his own sake. Ten minutes later, as the court was called to order, Zahra apologised to the magistrate for his outburst. Zahra explained that on the day his daughter went missing, his estate manager called him in Dubai to tell him that a man had been seen on CCTV footage, entering his house. He had come in at 11pm and left at 6am. "I cancelled my trip in Du- bai and flew back to Malta. On the way I was informed that the man was a certain Erin Tanti – a drama teacher at Lisa Marie's school. But I had never heard his name before. Apparently he was employed there some months earlier. When I arrived I found officers at my home and was told that my daughter was missing. Later the same day, I was taken to the police headquarters where inves- tigators informed me they had found Lisa Maria's body at Dingli." Asked by Giglio if he had anything to add to his testimony, Tony Za- hra got emotionally angry, and again turned to face the accused, and from the stand demanded to know the reason behind his daughter's murder. "All I want to know is the reason why you killed my daughter. You could have taken my whole household, why did you take her? Why did you take away my daughter?" As officers helped the emotional fa- ther out of the courtroom, his broth- er Winston Zahra Snr approached the accused with raised fists, shout- ing: "I'll punch your face in." However police officers on both sides of Erin Tanti held back the an- gered man, and took him into the magistrate's chambers. At the same time, the victim's cousin, Winston Zahra Jnr, approached Tanti's father, whispering in his ear. Information 2704 1161 2180 0367 • Mob: 7980 0367 PHOTO BY MARTIN AGIUS/IN-NAZZJON Emotional Tony Zahra, father of teenager who lost her life in Dingli Cliffs tragedy, lashes out at accused Erin Tanti during emotional testimony Trapping season to be opened Newspaper post THE Malta Ornis Committee yesterday evening recommend- ed in principle the application of a derogation under Article 9(1) (c) of the Birds Directive to per- mit, under strictly supervised conditions and in small num- bers, the limited live-capture of seven species of finches in au- tumn 2014. The recommendation was made after the Committee considered, during three con- secutive sessions, the detailed technical, legal and scientific submissions made by the Malta Environment and Planning Au- thority, the Wild Birds Regula- tion Unit, Birdlife (Malta) and the Federation for Hunting and Conservation – Malta (FKNK). As part of the discussion, the Committee deliberated on the legal parameters concerning this derogation, including the extent of applicability of Malta's Act of Accession, provisions of the Birds Directive and relevant jurisprudence. The parliamentary secretariat for animal rights said that an analysis of alternatives, consid- eration of the requirements per- taining to " judicious use", "small numbers", as well as "strictly supervised conditions" and en- forcement was also carried out. The Committee discussed the conservation status of the seven finch species, as well as controls to ensure protection of habitats, and that the proposed deroga- tion would be subject to strin- gent controls and limitations, and would not envisage a gen- eral continuation of trapping as it was practiced prior to 2009. The recommendation was adopted following 5 votes in fa- vour, 1 against and 1 abstention. The Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Ani- mal Rights has taken note of the above recommendation, as well as the detailed assessment conduct- ed by the Wild Birds Regulation Unit, and will decide accordingly in due course. The Maltese government last opened a trapping season in Sep- tember 2012, applying a deroga- tion from the EU ban on trapping of golden plover and song thrush. The rules set seasonal bag limits at 5,000 song thrush and 1,150 golden plover, and the season ran for 83 days between October 2012 and January 2013. Trapping is banned in the EU and Malta has already received two formal warnings from the European Commission, before the possibility of being taken to the European Court of Justice. Hunters' lobby FKNK had al- ready asked the Ornis Committee to effect a derogation from the EU ban on trapping, so that they can take the astounding number of 300,000 Linnet, 900,000 Chaffinch, 500,000 Greenfinch, 400,000 Goldfinch, 300,000 Sis- kin, 200,000 Serin, and 60,000 Hawfinch over a period of two months trapping season between 7 October until 7 December – permitting a total catch of 2.6 million finches. 'Why did you murder my daughter?' CONTINUES PAGE 7 CONTINUES PAGE 2 Erin Tanti

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