Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/630594
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 24 JANUARY 2016 9 News PlusOne club incident: charges for Hugo Chetcuti, owners and JPO's driver MIRIAM DALLI PACEVILLE impresario Hugo Chetcuti, entrepreneur Frankie Grima and Stephen Ciangura, the chauffeur of the chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Tech- nology (MCST), are among 21 individuals expected to be charged in connection with the Plus-One incident in Paceville last No- vember. Two others facing charges include two youths aged 17 and 18. A stampede outside the club resulted in a glass bannister giving way under the weight of hundreds who tried to rush out of the club. 14 youths suffered grievous injuries whilst over 80 suffered slight inju- ries. Two girls were in critical condition. With a capacity of 200 persons, the club on that night had 450 revellers. At least 34 of them were aged under 17. An unlicensed Serbian security guard who spoke no English or Maltese, was sin- gled out by the inquiry as having been the one who urged patrons to leave the club. The chaos inside the club erupted when patrons started exiting the building after the release of a pepper spray that made it hard for them to breathe, and started to feel nauseous and suffered irritations to the eyes. The inquiry led by Magistrate Doreen Clarke – published yesterday by justice minister Owen Bonnici – found under- age drinking, smoking inside the club, in- existent emergency exits and unlicensed security guards, amongst other grievous shortcomings. The inquiry took statements from 144 persons, including the club's directors, se- curity guards, DJs, patrons, minors present in the club and their parents. PlusOne is run by Three Sixty Ltd, whose owners are Hugo Chetcuti, Frankie Grima, Raymond Grima and Carlos Schembri. But the premises were not licensed as a nightclub and disco by the Malta Tourism Authority. Instead, a licence issued in 2003 was granted to another company, Hugo Cast, also owned by the same business- men. The club had never been inspected by the MTA monitoring board. The last safety audit of the club had been commissioned by Three Sixty in 2004. Three Sixty also employed 13 'security officers', but only four were covered by a guard's licence – the rest were registered as "customer care" with the Employment and Training Corporation. And yet they wore the same uniforms as security guards and were equipped with a radio and ear- piece. Chronology of events It was nine minutes to midnight when a fight broke out between 17-year-old An- dre Bugeja and a foreign national. Bugeja's friend, 18-year-old Zach Latif – a Maltese national – intervened and made use of a pepper spray he was carrying with him. The pepper spray spread around the club, causing panic after several started feeling nauseous, had trouble breathing and felt their eyes itching. Security guard Bojan Spasic, a Serbian national, was one of four security officers working at the club on the night. An un- licensed security officer, he was subcon- tracted through Executive Security Serv- ices, a company whose director is Stephen Ciangura, the driver of Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST). Spasic was standing by the door when he noticed the commotion inside the club. Suspecting a gas leak of sorts, Spasic started evacuating the patrons from the club, a decision he took unilaterally, the inquiry noted. The disorderly evacuation soon resulted in patrons reaching a bottle-neck on the glass staircase at the club's exit, resulting in chaos and individuals falling over each other. Faced with a stampede, two other secu- rity guards at the bottom of the staircase were trying to stop the traffic in a bid to succour patrons who had fallen in the stampede. Spasic, unaware of what was happening at the bottom of the staircase, kept telling patrons to clear out. The pressure caused by the accumulated mass of people on the stairs and within the club's entrance caused the glass bannister to crack and give way. 14 grievously injured, one risked dying The resulting injuries from the patrons falling off the side of the staircase saw doz- ens needing medical attention for injuries sustained, lacerations from the glass ban- nister, fractures and, in certain cases, trau- matic asphyxia caused by the stampede. Patients aged 13 to 25 included a girl who was in critical condition and another who was in danger of dying. The former spent several weeks in intensive care, ad- mitted with near traumatic asphyxia and a fractured jawbone. She was finally dis- charged from hospital with partial facial nerve palsy. Resuscitation was performed on the girl that was in danger of dying, having lost a lot of blood, and undergoing surgery. Another patient underwent plastic sur- gery whilst another girl stuck in the stam- pede suffered near traumatic asphyxia. Another patient had to undergo recon- structive surgery to her leg. 14 patients suffered grievous injuries whilst over 90 others suffered light inju- ries. 34 underage patrons At least 34 patrons were underage pa- trons who were said to have bought alco- hol freely from the bar. One teenager said she used her friend's identity card to gain access. Forensic expert Martin Bajada said the PlusOne was well known among students attending MCAST, Higher Secondary and Junior College. The students themselves admitted that those aged under 17 were allowed in. The bar attendants, DJs and promoter – all students – were not regis- tered with the ETC. Bajada also confirmed that none of the bar attendants, DJs, promoter, night man- ager, customer care and the security of- ficial had ever received any formal train- ing on the procedure to follow in case of emergency. The inquiry in fact points its fingers towards the bottleneck that was created on the stairs, as security guards tried to protect patrons who had fallen down the stairs whilst others continued pushing to pass through. Only one exit Forensic expert Alfred Vella concluded that there was only one exit – the main entrance – as the two fire exits led to the Hugo Passion club and to another build- ing. A third exit was through the back of- fice, which leads to the Steam club. The alleged fire exits, the expert said, did not even meet international standards re- quired for emergency routes. Vella concluded that fewer people would have been injured had there been other exits. Inquiry expert John Gera said that sever- al suffered lacerations when the glass ban- nister broke. Lack of emergency measures were further evidenced by the fact that no handrail had been installed, opposite the glass bannister. It was only after several had already been injured that a security guard decided to go through Havana to access PlusOne. Not more than 40 [out of the 450 patrons] got out of the club through Havana. The magisterial inquiry did not attribute any wrongdoing to any civil servants or government inspectors after it emerged that the club was not covered by the nec- essary permits, but had operated in breach of certain health and safety regulations. Who to charge? The inquiry proposes: Zach Latif: The 18-year-old may be charged with possession of pepper spray – an offence under the Arms Act. He may also face charges of misconduct and of having caused slight injuries to all those who were affected by the pepper spray. He may also be charged with involuntary bodily harm and with causing the incident through his negligence, as well as with improper conduct in a place of entertainment. Andre Bugeja: The 17-year-old, whose argument with a foreigner had prompted Latif's intervention, may face charges of misconduct and contributory negligence. Hugo Chetcuti, Frankie Grima, and Three Sixty Ltd director Carlos Schembri could face a plethora of charges, which include running an unlicensed catering establishment, admitting under age persons into a nightclub, selling alcohol to persons under age, contributory negligence, as well as several charges relating to serious breaches of Health and Safety regulations, involving evacuation plans and emergency exits. They also face additional charges of allowing the unsupervised sale of cigarettes through a vending machine, allowing patrons to smoke inside enclosed premises and with failing to register employees with the ETC, as well as employing unlicensed security guards. Managers Jonathan Grima and Mark Azzopardi: The Three Sixty Ltd manager/administrators could face charges of contributory negligence Clayton Camilleri and Vanessa Farrugia are charged with the sale of alcohol to minors. Stephen Ciangura: The director of Executive Security Services Ltd may be charged with running an agency offering the services of unlicensed security guards and with failing to register employees with the ETC. Bojan Spasic, Mark Dimech, Russel Vassallo, Leli Caruana, Roderick Caruana, Tyson Grech, Christian Elichati, Wayne Catania, Costantino Borg and Sammy Galea may be charged with allowing under-17s into an entertainment establishment and with working as private security guards without the necessary licence. Hugo Chetcuti, expected to be among those to be charged