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MW 7 December 2016

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8 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 7 DECEMBER 2016 News IN ALL LEADING BOOK SHOPS HISTORY OF ORNITHOLOGY IN MALTA Father charged with beating, threatening son aged 12 MATTHEW AGIUS A father has denied beating and threatening his 12-year-old son, with his legal defence arguing that the man had never been violent to- wards the boy. The 36-year-old man, who is of Nigerian descent, was arraigned before Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, charged with having used violence and causing the boy to fear that he would be subjected to vio- lence. Prosecuting Police Inspector John Spiteri also charged the accused, who is not being named in order to protect the identity of the son, with slightly injuring the boy and breach- ing two conditional discharges, which he had previously received for violence against the son. The father pleaded not guilty to the charges. In his submissions on bail, defence lawyer Stefano Filletti explained that, while it was true that the two had conflict issues, the father had not been violent towards the son. The lawyer submitted that the accused had just been discharged from hospital, having undergone a kidney transplant and was unable to work due to his medical condition. The fact that the children's mother worked 12-hour shifts meant that it was down to him to care for his three children and if he were to be remanded in custody it would not only harm his fragile health but would also put greater stress on the family, submitted the defence. The Court was adamant that there could be no contact between the fa- ther and the son for the duration of the proceedings, but said it under- stood the family's particular situa- tion. The child's mother took the wit- ness stand to confirm that after the previous incidents of violence, which had been addressed, she checked her children every day and had never seen any marks on them. The woman also confirmed never having seen the father being violent towards their children. She con- ceded that she was not at home all the time, however, and could not say that what her son was alleging was true or not. After hearing the defence's sub- missions and the mother's testimo- ny, the court upheld the request for bail, ordering the accused to provide a personal guarantee of €1,500 and sign a bail book twice a week. In addition to this, a protection or- der in favour of the minor child was issued. The court ordered the son be removed from home and live with the maternal grandparents for his protection during the course of the proceedings. Man facing multiple charges jailed for 18 months MATTHEW AGIUS A Libyan man with a number of pending accusations of theft us- ing appalling violence, has been jailed for 18 months for grievous- ly injuring a Maltese man in Paola last August. 31-year-old Rawad Briga Abdel- salam, who works in a quarry, ad- mitted to causing grievous bod- ily harm to a young Maltese man whom he mugged and robbed of his cash and mobile phone, while threatening to kill him. This was not the first such ac- cusation levelled against Abdel- salam. In September, he was accused of brutally slashing a woman's throat during another mugging, which also took place in August. In that case, the Libyan had been charged with attempted homicide as well as with grievously injuring and causing permanent disfigure- ment to the woman and stealing her handbag, which contained a smartphone and €20 in cash. Other news reports indicate that he had been convicted of a similar bag-snatch theft in 2014. Briga Abdelsalam was yesterday also charged with relapsing, as well as breaching the peace, car- rying a weapon at the time of the commission of a violent offence and breaching the peace. In a judgement published yes- terday morning, Magistrate Joe Mifsud jailed the man for 18 months after taking into account the accused's early guilty plea and his assistance in the prosecution of his accomplice. The accused had injured the victim in this case, the court noted, while the accomplice had stolen the items. Police inspectors Joseph Mer- cieca and Hubert Cini prosecut- ed. 56 police inspectors sue Commissioner for unpaid overtime MATTHEW AGIUS FIFTY-SIX senior police offic- ers have filed judicial proceedings against the Commissioner of Police over unpaid overtime hours they worked during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and the Valletta Summit on Migration in 2015. In an application filed before the First Hall of the Civil Court yes- terday, the 56 officers, all above the rank of inspector, argued that they had been ordered by the Commis- sioner of Police to work hours "very much in excess" of their normal 46-hour working week and had not yet received any payment for them. The case was filed after the offic- ers received no reply to official re- quests for payment. The officers, who had reportedly been ordered to work over 150 over- time hours, had only been entitled to a 'disturbance allowance,' which is capped at 10% of their basic salary. The disturbance allowance works out at around €1 per hour of over- time, one inspector explained to MaltaToday. The maximum payout under the disturbance allowance is under- stood to be €170, but some offic- ers are reportedly claiming that they are owed amounts in excess of €2,000 for the extra hours they had worked during the events. The officers' indignation was not helped by the fact that last March it was announced that ranks below that of inspector had been paid for CHOGM and Valletta Summit overtime, while the higher ranks re- mained in the dark as to when they could expect to receive payment. Some inspectors are understood to have worked in excess of 500 hours during the events and the global amount of unpaid overtime is estimated to be in the region of €70,000. Lawyer Robert Abela signed the application.

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