Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/503337
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 29 APRIL 2015 4 News Hunter gets one year in jail for shooting kestrel KIRSTEN Mifsud, 24, has been sen- tenced to one year in jail, a fine of €5,000, the revocation of his hunters' licence and his shotgun confiscated, for shooting a kestrel on Monday. Three hunters were arraigned on charges related to the shooting of a protected kestrel on Monday, which led to the closure of the 20-day spring hunting season three days earlier. The injured bird landed in the schoolyard of St Edward's College, to the schoolchildren's shock. The first of the men to be arraigned, 21 year old Kirtsen Mifsud, known as 'il-Benghazi', was arrested along with a number of other hunters who were in the area when the kestrel was shot. He was previously known to the po- lice. Mifsud pleaded not guilty to the ac- cusations while the other hunters were taken to court to testify against him. During the arraignment, lawyer Ja- son Grima objected to the presence as parte civile of FKNK lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Kathleen Grima – the spokesperson for the hunters' cam- paign in the spring hunting referen- dum – saying the law only allowed this when there was an injured party. Replying, Azzopardi said that since the spring hunting season was closed early following this incident, the FKNK was indeed an injured party, since a right that had been given by law had been denied to them due to the actions of the accused, who is not a member of the federation. Prosecuting Inspector Jurgen Vella told the court that the police had re- ceived a call from St Edward's College about the shooting of the kestrel and the ALE had recovered the bird. Vella also produced a shotgun seized from Mifsud's home. Joseph Aquilina testified that he had been with the accused on Monday and that he had seen him shooting the bird as it flew over. He said that he had told him, "What have you done?", to which Mifsud replied: "I went blind" ('ghamejt'). Another hunter, Sean Spiteri, said he had also been hunting in the area and he heard three shots as the bird fell. He said the accused was there at the time and that he did not see anyone else. Christopher Bonello said he had also been hunting in the area when the shots rang out and that he saw two peo- ple in the area – Mif- sud and Sean Spiteri, known as 'iz-Zanna'. He added that he had heard as many as seven shots. The FKNK had al- ready said that the man in question is not a member of their organisation, but that another FKNK member was assisting the police in their investigation. In a statement, Kaccaturi San Uber- tu commended the immediate action by the police that led to the arrest of the hunter. "Unfortunately the premature clo- sure of the hunting season following six incidents, three of which resulted in arrests, was reason enough for 10,000 hunters to be collectively pe- nalised for something totally unre- lated to their exemplary behaviour," KSU said. The FKNK, while condemning the illegal act, have voiced their opposi- tion to Muscat's decision. "We never agreed with collective punishment: we disagreed with it in 2007; we disagreed with it during the closure of the last season and we disa- gree with it today," Farrugia told Mal- taToday yesterday. Insisting that "collective punishment was not on", Farrugia said FKNK was carrying out its own investigations in- to the case and added that "there was no proof as yet on who shot the bird or whether it was a licensed hunter". Ministry gives former union boss advisor's role Former union boss Paul Pace has been appointed as a government advisor of nursing deployment in health ministry, the government announced in a statement yester- day. "Pace has vast experience in nurs- ing and he has been the president of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN), for the past nine years," the statement said. It added that Pace, former head of the MUMN, has vast experience in networking with international nurses, as he is a member of the board for the International Nurs- ing Council. In the statement the government also said that it expected to hire many nurses and medical profes- sionals in the coming year in con- nection with a number of projects in the sector. "Pace's role will be providing ad- vice on the nurses to be hired," the statement said. Pace's political appointment comes after the former MUMN president called it a day after nine years at the helm of the union, hav- ing placed eighth in the election of 10 council members last month. "Although elected, it is clear that I have lost the support of the mem- bers of the Council, since placing in the eighth place from those elected," Pace said in a terse email sent to nurses and midwives. Pace said he always worked in the interest of the members, al- ways helping whoever needed the service of MUMN, "sometimes quite passionately and literally round the clock ". "I am proud what the union achieved under my presidency with the two sectoral collective agreements signed besides the Civil Service agreement," he said. "I can assure you that I never hid behind anyone and always tried my best when members used to bombard my phone, day and night." Tunny Net set to be sanctioned for sixth time JAMES DEBONO THE Malta Environment and Plan- ning Authority is set to regularise the Tunny Net lido complex in Ghadira for the sixth time in 20 years. MEPA has since 1995 issued six dif- ferent enforcement notices against the entertainment complex. But ap- plications to regularise these irregu- larities were presented in 1995, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004. All these applications were accepted by MEPA. The latest application to regularise the latest set of irregulari- ties was presented in 2010. The Envi- ronment Planning Commission will decide on this application on May 5. The latest application seeks to sanc- tion the change of use of the bar to a disco, done without a permit, and var- ious changes to the façade and other minor works. Moreover the application also pro- poses the extension of the terrace at the back of the restaurant and the ad- dition of chairs, tables, umbrellas and sun beds. Part of the development will take place over an area where land recla- mation took place before 2005. The land reclamation was noted during the processing of the latest ap- plication by the Environment Protec- tion Directorate. Aerial photos showed that land rec- lamation took place before 2005 and according to the Planning Directorate the land reclamation was regularised through a permit issued in 2005. No reference was made to land rec- lamation in this permit, which includ- ed the regularisation of development which took place on reclaimed land. The EPD had no other objections to the development as this will have no negative impact on the environment. The Planning Directorate claims that although the area is outside develop- ment zones it is already committed for development by previous permits. Nursing deployment advisor – Paul Pace PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD Kirsten Mifsud, 21, on his way to court yesterday