Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/627675
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 JANUARY 2016 News 7 MATTHEW AGIUS A Zabbar man who had been found guilty of seriously injuring another man in a knife attack, may now be employed as a private guard be- cause he had only been handed a probation order for that crime and probation orders do not count as convictions, an appeals court has held. In his decision handed down last Wednesday, Mr Justice Anthony Ellul, presiding the Court of Ap- peal in its inferior jurisdiction, upheld the view of the Adminis- trative Review Tribunal that Ar- ticle 25 of the Probation Act was clear in stating that any conviction for which a person was placed on probation must – in every case – be disregarded for the purposes of any law imposing a disqualification or similar penalty upon convicted persons. The Commissioner of Police had filed the appeal following a deci- sion by the Administrative Review Tribunal back in May 2014, that ruled that he had incorrectly re- fused an application for a private guard licence to Simon Agius, 48 of Zabbar. The Commissioner cited the fact that Agius had been convicted in 2002 of attacking and seriously injuring a young man with a knife during an argument. That sentence, handed down by Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Her- rera in December 2002, goes over how Agius had been charged with the attempted murder of Joseph Carmel Zammit from San Gwann. Zammit was just 18 at the time. The knifing had taken place in the afternoon of 31 March 2000 at Zammit's girlfriend's flat in Old Bakery Street, Valletta, when Ag- ius's son, Redeemer, had kicked Aimen El Ewany – Zammit's girl- friend's brother – in the face. El Ewany had warned the boy not to do it again or "he would hurt him." At that point Agius had jumped on El Ewany and told him, "if you touch him" – referring to his son – "I'll kill you". Zammit had attempted to break up the fight with an umbrella and a violent struggle had ensued, during which Agius struck the 18-year- old in the face with a knife which he had snatched from the kitchen. The court had found Agius guilty as charged, however, in view of the fact that the injury was inflicted in excess of self-defence and tak- ing into consideration the fact that Zammit had forgiven him, the court limited itself to fining Agius Lm400 (€931) and placing him on probation for three years. While working as a watchman with the Education Department, Agius had subsequently applied for a police licence to work as a private guard, but had been refused on the ground of his previous conviction. Agius filed proceedings before the Administrative Review Tri- bunal, claiming the decision was unjust, irrational, disproportionate and based on irrelevant considera- tions. The Commissioner of Police had argued that Agius's probation or- der for grievous bodily harm was tantamount to a conviction and that he had no choice but to refuse the man's application for the pri- vate guard licence. But in May 2014 the tribunal, presided by Magistrate Gabriella Vella had ordered the Commis- sioner to issue Agius a licence, holding that while there had been no doubting the grievous bodily harm, article 25 of the probation act clearly prohibited the proba- tion order from being counted as a conviction. The Lm400 fine had not been inflicted as punishment for the grievous bodily harm – which carries a prison sentence – the Tribunal said, but for offences against the Arms Act. Probation on self-defence no obstacle for guard Zabbar man who got probation on attempted murder charge eligible for private guard licence Party tiff over police HQ suicide THE Nationalist Party has de- manded answers over reports that a prisoner attempted to commit suicide while locked up at the po- lice headquarters last week. Following leaks to the media, the police confirmed that an internal investigation was launched into how a Syrian prisoner "managed to inflict an abrasion on his fore- arm". The prisoner has since been transferred to Mount Carmel Hos- pital as a precautionary measure. PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami questioned why the gov- ernment had kept the attempted suicide secret, and why home af- fairs minister Carmelo Abela did not refer to it at all during a recent parliamentary debate following the suicide of a prisoner at Mount Carmel's forensic ward. The Englishman was the third prisoner to have committed sui- cide in the past three months. In a statement, the home affairs ministry said that Fenech Adami had ignored the fact that during the last five years, there had been 16 cases of suicide and self-harm in the police lock-up, ten of which took place in just two years be- tween 2010 and 2012 under the former PN administration. "Using the same measure, why did Fenech Adami, who was parliamentary as- sistant to the home affairs minister before 2013, not report these sui- cide attempts to the media?" A young boy is in danger of dying after he was hit by a car in Hompe- sch Road, Fgura. The police said that the incident happened at around 6pm. The boy is from Bormla. The car, a Mazda Demio, was being driven by a 24- year-old girl from Swieqi. The boy was rushed to Mater Dei Hospital where he was certified to be in critical condition. Police in- vestigations underway. Boy, 11, in critical condition