Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/599604
2 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 11 NovEmbEr 2015 News Court awards €28,000 in damages to worker who stapled his finger Gabriel SChembri A court ordered Seliter Limited to pay €28,000 in damages to a worker who stapled his finger in an accident while at work. The accident dates back to 16 March, 2005, causing a 12% permanent disability to the victim and, as the court heard, was due to the lack of security on the part of the company. On the day of the accident, victim Gilbert Micallef was working with a stitching ma- chine used to staple copybooks. At one point, he noted that an- other machine had stopped working. As he went to see what had caused the stoppage, Micallef slipped and his foot got stuck in the pedal of the machine while his right hand slipped right under the stapler. His employer took him straight to hospital where he was operated on. The victim explained that the machine he was using had no safety guard. A worker at the company claimed that a ma- chine such as the one that was being used by the victim is sup- posed to have a safety cover, to prevent the worker's hands from slipping beneath the sta- pler. In his testimony, Micallef told the court he worked as a fac- tory assistant. He said he never received any training from the company that employed him, and it was his colleague who had shown him how the ma- chine worked. This was later confirmed by another employ- ee. An officer from the Occupa- tional Health and Safety Au- thority confirmed that he had not heard of the accident until April 2006, when contacted by Micallef. Even after medical interven- tion, physiotherapy and medi- cation, Micallef never recov- ered the full use of his finger. The court also heard that this disability limited the range of motion in his hand and because of this, he lost his job. The company had declared that the allegations made by Micallef were unfounded. "The fault of the accident was com- pletely his (Gilbert Micellef 's)", the company argued. Seliter Limited argued that Micallef did not follow the strict instructions he was given and this negligence had caused the accident. The court, presided by Ms Justice Jacqueline Grima, or- dered the company to pay dam- ages. Suspended sentence for Swede who assaulted three police officers Gabriel SChembri A 43-year-old man from Sweden appeared in front of Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona yester- day, accused of assaulting three po- lice officers. The incident happened on Mon- day at 4:50pm when, while at the airport, Lindgren Manu Juha-Pekka was approached by the officers when they noticed he was drunk. It was then that Pekka assaulted and threatened Inspector Silvio Magro, and Sergeants Noel Said and Dunstan Sammut. Pekka was also accused of diso- beying police orders and of breach- ing the peace. Inspector Silvio Magro testified that at the time of the incident, the accused was drunk and started to offend him personally. The man, who does not have a lo- cal address and works as a forklift driver, allegedly told the inspector that he had already killed a man and faced jail time. When arrested, the man tried to punch one of the officers. Defence lawyer Noel Bartolo said the ac- cused was upset because his lug- gage had got lost in Milan. He pleaded guilty to the charges and was handed a two-year sus- pended sentence, and a fine of €5,000. The accused was given a period of one month to make the payment. Nominations open to fill parliamentary seat vacated by Joe Cassar THE Electoral Commission will be receiving candidates' nomi- nations for a casual election to elect a Member of Parliament in the seventh district for the seat vacated by Joe Cassar. Eligible candidates, who con- tested the seventh electoral district in the March 2013 gen- eral election and who were not elected, may present their nomi- nation form daily between today and Saturday, 14 November, at the Electoral Commission's Of- fice at Naxxar, between 9am and noon. Nomination forms may be obtained from the offices of the Electoral Commission in Naxx- ar and Valletta. The commission further noti- fied that the counting of votes of the casual election shall take place as from 9am on Monday. One of Cassar's possible sub- stitutes is former parliamen- tary secretary Tony Abela, who was considered as the Lawrence Gonzi government's PR night- mare when he served as parlia- mentary secretary in charge of defence between 2003 and 2008. Abela was the last candidate to be eliminated in the 2013 cas- ual election and together with former MP Peter Micallef is fa- vourite to fill the seat vacated on the district which includes Ra- bat, Zebbug and Dingli. Other potential candidates are conservative Mosta mayor and former MP Edwin Vassallo, former Rabat mayor Rudolph Grima, architect and former MP Philip Mifsud and Dingli local councillor David Vassallo. In the unpredictable casu- al elections, candidates must achieve 50% of the quota estab- lished in the general election. The quota of the seventh district in 2013 was 4,075, meaning that in order to get elected a candi- date must garner 2,038 votes to snatch the seat. In the unlikely eventuality that nobody achieves the quota or no- body submits a nomination, the PN would co-opt somebody to fill in Cassar's seat. The last MP to be co-opted was Prime Min- ister Joseph Muscat who took up the seat voluntarily vacated by Joseph Cuschieri in 2008. Joe Cassar resigned after MaltaToday revealed that a businessman paid an €8,000 bill for works carried out at the former MP's home Road sign company ordered to pay €7,000 for damaging Enemalta cable Gabriel SChembri B. Grima and Sons Limited was ordered to pay €7,000 to Enemalta for damage it caused to an electricity cable while in- stalling road barriers. The company had won a ten- der for the setting up of road signs in Durumblat Road, Ta' Qali, as issued by Transport Malta. Part of the job included the installation of crash barri- ers on the road. It appears that back in Decem- ber 2010, when the workers be- gan to dig up the road to fit the barriers, two Enemalta officials approached them to tell them that most of the north of Malta was without electricity and that they suspected this was caused due to the work being carried out by the company. Investigations by Enemalta later confirmed that the works had indeed damaged the cable in two sections. Enemalta then had to carry out repairs which had cost €7,000. The company explained that it needed permission from the local council before the works on the road could start. This was never obtained and it had instead presented a document that was not signed. The court was presided by Magistrate Francesco Depas- quale.