Weekly News highlights

Over Lm61,000 in damages were awarded on Monday to the heirs of a 23-year-old labourer who was electrocuted while working in a quarry in 1988.

The heirs, Mary Borg, Nazzareno, Doreen, Maria and Michael Zammit, had sued Joseph Zahra, the quarry owner, Saviour Zammit, an Enemalta Corporation foreman, and Alfred Pace, who had installed the electricity supply to the quarry.

Carmelo Zammit had died tragically in July 1988 while working in a quarry known as Ta' Kandja in the limits of Siggiewi. Zammit, his heirs claimed, had died as a result of negligence and non-observance of Enemalta regulations on the part of the quarry owner, the Enemalta foreman and the electrician who had installed the electricity.

Institute director wins libel damages

The Director of the International Institute on Aging, Anthony H.B. Debono was awarded Lm400 libel damages on Monday.

Professor Debono, who filed a libel suit against journalist Alan Delia and the editor of The Malta Independent Fr Noel Grima, claimed he had been libelled by an article written by Delia and published on December 18, 1998.

Fundraisers reach Kilimanjaro peak

Fourteen of the 16 Maltese who embarked on a climb of Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro, managed to make it to the top last weekend.

Reaching Out, an organisation set up by Keith Marshall two years ago, set out to raise Lm40,000 for a school in a village called Bulbula in the Meki dioceses region in Ethiopia. Over Lm30,000 has been collected so far.

Suspended jail term for drink-drive death

Christopher Spiteri, 23, of Qormi, was given a one-year jail term suspended for three years on Monday. He was also fined Lm400 for involuntarily causing the death of Helen Bugeja while driving under the influence of alcohol on December 4, 1999.

Woman wins car again in court

A court ordered Maltacom plc to deliver a car to Mary Ann Calleja after ruling she had won it in a competition.

Calleja claimed that while she was at the Trade Fair in 2002, she had participated in the Mega Competition lottery organised by Maltacom, the first prize for which was a KIA Rio.

She had filled in the ticket and replied to the question on it and on August 13, 2002, her ticket was drawn making her the winner of the car.

A Maltacom official had called and informed her that she had won the car but although the ticket did not indicate that any other condition had to be satisfied in order for her to be given the car, the official told her she had to reply to a second question.

Calleja answered the question incorrectly and Maltacom informed her she was no longer entitled to the car.

She therefore sued the company and asked the court to declare she was the winner of the lottery and that she had won the car.

Man held after drug find

A substantial amount of cannabis resin was seized by the drug squad from Gozo on Tuesday afternoon. The operation began when officers intercepted a 51-year-old Nadur man after they noted him in possession of suspicious items.

An amount of cannabis resin was found in the man's car and a search in the fields at Dahlet Qorrot yielded more cannabis. In all, the police said they seized just under two kilos of drugs.

Three held over bank hold-up

Three Italians were taken in for questioning on Thursday by the police as part of their investigations into Wednesday's hold-up at the HSBC St Andrew's branch.

The hold-up occurred just before 10.30 a.m. when three, possibly four, hooded robbers carrying firearms barged into the bank.

They made off with about Lm12,000 after neutralising the policeman on duty, PC Raymond Saliba, by tying his hands and ordering him to lie on the floor.

Investigations into the case continue.

Japanese breaks into bank to eat and rest

The police were in for a surprise on Wednesday evening when they responded to an alarm at the HSBC branch in Msida. Inside was a Japanese man who claimed he was merely looking for food and a place to sleep.

The 22-year-old said he had lost his passport and had nowhere to live and had entered the high-security bank in search of food as he was hungry. The bank's alarm was triggered at 7.30 p.m., just hours after an armed hold-up at the HSBC branch in St Andrews.

Investigations showed the man had entered the bank by levering open one of the metal bars in the inner yard and breaking a bathroom window. The suspect also told the police he had been in Malta for a year to study English but had decided to quit the course.

Former college rector passes away

Former St Aloysius College rector and Jesuit Provincial Fr Charles Caruana, 66, died in hospital early Friday morning after he was run over by a car in Birkirkara on Wednesday.

Fr Caruana was walking with fellow Jesuit Fr Pierre Grech Marguerat when the accident occurred. The two were on their way to Dar is-Sliem, a new home for refugees that was being inaugurated by Family and Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina that same evening.

Within minutes, Fr Caruana was admitted to hospital and was found to be in danger of dying. In fact, he succumbed to the severe head injuries he suffered on impact two days later.

Fr Caruana's funeral is being held this afternoon at 2 at St Therese Sanctuary, Birkirkara.

MLP wins libel damages

A judge on Friday ordered the editor and a journalist at Il-Mument to pay the Malta Labour Party Lm1,500 libel damages.

Mr Justice Geoffrey Valenzia ruled that an article by Dione Borg published on August 8, 1999, was libellous as it alleged that the MLP headquarters in Hamrun had been built with illegal funds.