Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/748968
8 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 9 NOVEMBER 2016 News IN ALL LEADING BOOK SHOPS HISTORY OF ORNITHOLOGY IN MALTA 'Courts must stop sheltering sex offenders' – Lisa Maria Foundation MAT THEW VELLA THE Lisa Maria Foundation has expressed concern that the name of a volleyball coach who was found guilty of installing web-cams to 'peep' on his fe- male team members, was not disclosed by court order. The man, who was also a man- ager at a childcare centre, was sacked from his job after he was found guilty of sexual abuse by a court. The foundation said all sex offenders' names should go on the register of sex offend- ers, and called on the courts to stop sheltering the guilty from the public. "The law abiding public and vulnerable groups cannot be put at risk from the sex offenders as happened re- cently when a convicted sex offender was found driving a mini bus with children to and from school. The public must be informed as to who has been found guilty of a sex offence." "The Lisa Maria Foundation finds it incredible that the Court finds no difficulty in naming and shaming persons who com- mit minor crimes, such as steal- ing small amounts of money or for that matter producing meat pies without a permit, but pro- tects the identity of sex offend- ers," the foundation said. The foundation was set up in the aftermath of the death of Lisa Marie Zahra, whose sui- cide was allegedly abetted by Erin Tanti, who stands accused of her murder. "Whilst it is understood that one needs to protect the iden- tity of the victims, the naming and shaming of sex offenders will serve as a huge deterrent to others to think carefully of the consequences before commit- ting any type of sex offence," the foundation said in a state- ment. The foundation also said that it was citizens' rights to know if a sex offender was a neighbour or at the same place of work or present at a children's school or training ground. "If sex offenders are not named how it is possible for an employ- er to make sure that they are not introducing a sex offender amongst innocent and possibly vulnerable employees? Laws today impose on employers the legal obligation to check on po- tential employees to ensure that they are not sex offenders. Long demolished store resurrected in Mosta valley JAMES DEBONO A store demolished to make way for a public road more than 20 years ago will be rebuild by its new order right on the valley side of Wied Speranza. It is the rural policy of 2014 which permits the rebuilding of any structure which existed before 1978 even if it no-longer exists. The policy has been invoked to justify rebuilding a 21 square me- ter store in the valley side of Wied Speranza in Mosta which is last visible on 1978 aerial photos before the building was demolished to make way for a public road. In fact the structure is no longer visible in 1994 aerial photos of the area. The new room will be con- structed on the valley side on land designated as an Area of High Landscape Value which is charac- terised by environmentally sensi- tive garigue. Once again the Environment Planning Commission-the board which decided permits on a daily basis has completely ignored the advise of the Environment and Resources Authority when it ap- proved the permit. ERA had expressed doubts on the utility of the new store noting that most of the land around it is not even agricultural and the applicant only cultivate 1 tumolo of land. Moreover the new store includes an internal staircase, multiple doors, apertures and multiple lev- els. According to ERA the new building "is not akin to a normal agricultural store which seeks to maximise internal storage space". It also considered a proposed pond in the area as "unacceptable" and of "uncertain" use. In a first meeting held in October the Environment Planning Comis- sion had noted that the original store had been located in an area which was later turned in to a pub- lic road which suggests that it was located on government land. But the architect replied by presenting a letter by the Government Prop- erty Division declaring that it had no record showing that the land in question had been acquired by gov- ernment. This led the EPC to drop its objections in the second meet- ing held last Friday. Nature Trust has written to the Planning Authority expressing its concern that the pre-1978 room was mostly located on the public road. Nature Trust also pointed out that the applicant had only bought the land in 2014. Accord- ing to the environmental organisa- tion only a fourth of the original room was located on land belong- ing to the applicant while the rest was located on the public road. Before the permit was issued Na- ture Trust informed the PA that it will be reporting the case to envi- ronment and planning commis- sioner David Pace. The permit was issued on con- dition that 20 gharghar trees, 5 aleppo pines, 10 holm oaks, 3 judas trees, 5 myrtle and 6 strawberry trees are grown on the site.