Weekly News highlights

A boat with 23 illegal immigrants on board was reported drifting about 15 nautical miles south west of Malta last Sunday. The immigrants were taken on board an AFM patrol craft and transported to Grand Harbour with at least one man needing medical attention.

The two women and 21 men claimed to be Somalis.

Injured in house break-in

An elderly brother and sister were slightly injured last Monday when thieves broke into the woman's house in Sliema.

Geraldo Giudice, 74, was walking along St Francis Street in Sliema when he realised that his sister's front door was ajar. Since he knew that his sister Dolores Farrugia was at Mass at the time, he went to fetch her, and together the two entered the house.

Inside the house were three men who assaulted the couple as they entered. Mr Giudice was hit in the arm with a sharp instrument. The three men then escaped.

Giudice and Farrugia, who were slightly injured, were rushed to hospital in an ambulance. Nothing was stolen from the house.

Awarded over Lm200,000

Two brothers, Joseph Bernard and Alfred Joseph Manduca, were awarded over Lm200,000 on Wednesday by Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco sitting in the First Hall of the Civil Court.

The two brothers, who filed their writ against the Commissioner of Lands, claimed they were owed a total of Lm232,941 in compensation for the expropriation of land at Birkirkara and at St Paul's Bay.

The sum included interest at five per cent on the amount that they had been promised by way of compensation from take-over date to the date of filing their writ.

TV personality awarded compensation

The Tribunal for the Investigation of Injustices has recommended that three individuals be awarded Lm5,000 between them, having found that they had sustained an injustice.

TV personality Eileen Montesin had filed her application against Maltacom plc (formerly Telemalta) and against PBS (formerly Xandir Malta), claiming she had sustained an injustice and had been discriminated against in 1987.

Magistrate Mallia found that Montesin had, on the change of government in 1987, been discriminated against because of her political opinions. The tribunal also concluded that the respondents had stopped all Montesin's programmes and that she had not been seen or heard on public broadcasting and was boycotted for nine years. She would be awarded Lm500 in compensation from both respondents.

In the other two rulings applications were filed by Charles Buttigieg against Air Malta Co Ltd and Joseph Fiorentino against Malta Information Techology and Training Services Ltd (MITTS). In the first, Air Malta was ordered to pay the applicant Lm1,000 in compensation. MITTS was to pay Fiorentino Lm3,000.

Elderly man jailed for defiling girls

A 63-year-old man was jailed for six years on Wednesday after he was found guilty of defiling his nine-year-old granddaughter and her eight-year-old friend.

The incident happened in September 2001, when the two minors were left in the custody of the accused to spend the weekend together in his Gozo house.

Policeman fined for damaging MP's house

PC Mark Anthony Bonnici, 30, of Kalkara, on Thursday was fined Lm100 for causing Lm5 damage to property belonging to Labour MP Joe Mizzi last year.

Magistrate Tonio Micallef Trigona found the police constable guilty of causing the damage to the back door of Mr Mizzi's house, threatening the family, breaching the peace and committing a crime he was in duty bound to prevent in Kalkara on April 16, 2003.

Man jailed for injuring girl

Jesmar Abela, 22, was jailed for three years on Thursday for kicking and smashing a glass in the face of beauty pageant contestant Donna Evans after she rejected him in a Paceville bar.

American extradited

A 44-year-old American, David van Osten, of Iowa has been extradited to the US after skipping his federal trial on drug and weapons charges and fleeing to Malta.

Van Osten had appeared before the Magistrates' Court in Malta under arrest on September 22 on the strength of a provisional arrest warrant issued by Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani Grima.

The warrant referred to an arrest warrant issued by the US District Court, Norther District of Iowa, on October 6, 2003, after he failed to appear in court. Mr van Osten was wanted by the US in connection with allegations of trafficking and drug dealing.

According to the Associated Press, US court marshals came to Malta last week to escort him back to the US. A trial for January 3, 2005 is scheduled for Van Osten. If convicted, he faces from five to 40 years in prison and up to a $2 million fine.

Mother, son arraigned

A mother and her 15-year-old son on Friday were charged with assaulting and seriously injuring a woman.

The 40-year-old woman and her son, both from San Gwann, pleaded not guilty to threatening, assaulting and injuring Anna Bayliss at Euroserv Ltd in Qormi and trespassing on Thursday. The boy was also charged with breaching probation. Both were granted bail on the condition they do not leave their home.

Asylum seeker re-arrested

Asylum seeker Karim Barboush moved back into the Hal Far detention centre after a judge revoked a Magistrates' Court ruling, releasing him from detention, and ordered his re-arrest.

Three days after Barboush was released from detention, Chief Justice Vincent DeGaetano, presiding over the Criminal Court, upheld the application filed by Attorney General Silvio Camilleri contesting Barboush's release.

On October 25, Magistrate Anthony Vella had ruled for the release of Barboush but, following an appeal filed by the Attorney General the day after, the Criminal Court revoked the ruling on procedural grounds and ordered that the case be heard again.

Church still in the red

A financial report published by the Curia shows that the Archdiocese of Malta netted Lm3,787,385 from collections during Mass and donations to Church homes last year and that another Lm2,510,000 were raised through Church investments, deposits and loans, a figure that remained unchanged when compared to 2002.

The two figures put together, which also include inherited money and property, as well as donations made to the major and minor seminaries, monasteries and other entities, amount to 73 per cent of all income.

The rest came from revenue from sale of property, fees from residents in homes and media activities.

Though total income in 2003 amounted to Lm8,606,535, total expenditure stood at Lm8,736,520 - a shortfall of Lm129,985.