The case of Yolanda Angileri

My wife and I have recently returned from a two-week holiday in Sliema, that being our fourth trip to the island.

We were staying in the New Strand Pebbles aparthotel and our first few days were enriched by the presence of a large crane with a jack hammer on the end of it and a couple of men who were drilling through the floors and walls of the adjacent building.

Fortunately we were near the top of the hotel but the noise was inescapable and the stour (Scottish for mucky dust) was considerable even four storeys above the action.

We noticed that the ground floor apartment had not been cleared and I was puzzled that any workers would even consider bringing down concrete blocks without the contents being removed.

To my horror I found that it was still occupied. This was the home of Yolanda Angileri and I saw the little old lady at her doorstep.

The demolition stopped, the scaffolding remained and I started to follow the story in The Times, not realising that the columnist who gave half a page to this lady's plight was the leader of the Opposition. (Alfred Sant, October 10).

What business is it of a holiday visitor? When we returned home I picked up my father from the care home he was in for a respite period during our absence. He is 93, and at the moment still holds on to his independence in a little ground floor flat.

I have absolutely no doubt that my home town would be up in arms if someone started demolishing his block of flats while he was still in it. The correspondent James Tyrrell (October 13), was correct in stating that such a shock to an old person would probably kill them.

He was also correct in drawing attention to the situation being watched by people the world over. Many veterans of World War II served on Malta and many more, such as my father, remember the convoys sheltering in the island en route to the fighting in North Africa.

These men are all in their 80s and 90s who would have been on the island when Ms Angileri was living on the Strand in Sliema, and they have very long memories and are not without influence, still able to recognise an injustice when they see it, particularly when that person, with her fellow islanders, earned the George Cross for their sacrifices. May I suggest to the developer (not the architect or the self-serving cabal of officials, bureaucrats and bankers who tried to please the developer with this fait accompli) that he, personally, requests a interview with Ms Anglieri and her family, and takes the time to visit her, apologises and seeks an equitable solution. Perhaps Mr Sant could act as an "honest broker" in this matter?