Alfred Zahra de Domenico, Sliema
Savage assault on bus passenger
On Wednesday, June 25 at just after 11 p.m. a bus stopped suddenly at Balluta, St Julians, where the driver got out of his seat and repeatedly savagely assaulted one of his passengers, a foreign young man, who was sitting on the seat on the driver's left. Other passengers in the bus, mostly young foreign females, could be seen and heard running screaming in a panic towards the back of the vehicle out of harm's way.
Naturally the young man got up to defend himself and found himself cornered in the bus, subjected to a prolonged shower of heavy blows from the driver. Eventually the young man was thrown off the bus, his shirt torn. When the young man shouted insults at his aggressor, the driver leapt out of his bus and assaulted his passenger on the pavement.
A number of passersby attempted not so successfully to restrain him. While all this was going on numerous passersby, most of whom were tourists, stopped in shocked silence to observe the commotion. One voice was heard shouting, "Stop hitting him".
I immediately phoned the St Julians police station to inform them of the incident and to give them the bus number, which I still have. However after the phone, having rung for one full minute, not eliciting a reply, I called the police on 119. The officer on duty immediately answered the phone and on being told of the incident, instead of asking me for more details and alerting a mobile squad vehicle, asked me whether I had filed a report at the local police station, a good 15 minutes walk away from where I was standing, as it is up to them to take action. I told him that I was reporting the incident to him and asked him for his number, which he gave me. He never asked me for the bus number or for any further information about the unfolding incident. By the time my conversation with the bureaucratic police officer was over the bus driver had returned to his bus and resumed his journey, presumably to Valletta.
The purpose of this letter is to publicly bring this incident to the attention of the powers that be for them to investigate both the aggression on the young bus passenger and the reaction of the police officer when I reported the incident. The citizens of this island can do without aggressive bus drivers and bureaucratic police officers.
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john fenech
Jun 30th 2008, 18:27
Isn’t beating a person a criminal offence - criminal code: ‘Wilful offences against the person’ – Sub Title 2; 214/215- Grievous or slight bodily harm.
What is the procedure when such a crime is reported? Or is such an incident so common, that it’s no longer considered a crime and was struck of the criminal code?
elton paul debattista
Jun 30th 2008, 14:32
next time you call the police tell them that u saw a hunter!! im pretty sure that if you told so to the police that answerd your call they would have acted in no time!!
Mark Grech
Jun 30th 2008, 12:19
The bureaucratic police officer is not bureaucratic at all. He is a typical Maltese (especially Govt) employee with a "leave me in peace" culture / attitude. How may times do we see obvious traffic contraventions happen in front of the eyes of police officers and nothing happens? Its always like that.
Dunstan Crockford
Jun 30th 2008, 12:17
What a shame!! whatever the cause,the driver should be heavily penalised!! As regards the police,well the St.Julians Station has never informed the public that their telephone number has changed!!!! The Local Council here still gives their `old` number!!!
With police being relieved of many duties due to the introduction of the Wardens,one would expect to see them more often on our streets!!! The Mobile Squad are doing an excellent job BUT what about more foot patrols?? and by this I do not mean a stroll along the front,once in a `blue moon`!!! Our Police Force has men and women who are respected by the majority and the general public is always willing to co-operate....but sometimes,they fail us miserably!!!
A. Camilleri
Jun 30th 2008, 11:27
How right this contributor is! Whatever the reason, the bus driver should NEVER act the way as described in the report. Get the discipline required, and desired by the Maltese in their vast majority, enforced immediately by ADT, and that the Police Force is also made to understand that such issues need a better attention by the duty official/s; Police Commissioner please have this looked into as well! It goes without saying that one needs also to check what the tourist was up to. But that is beside the point, or isn't it!?
laurence schembri
Jun 30th 2008, 11:03
A fine advert for Brand Malta....where are you Francis?
paul busuttil
Jun 30th 2008, 10:47
Can the public know the result of the official enquiry of this case, or will we be left in the dark yet again, dont forget we are still waiting to know what happened in the case regarding the warden who was driving without a seat belt on saturday the 14 th of june at 13.55 on the b'kara by pass. The public has a right to know and the local papers should push for further information from the police.
Anthony Borg
Jun 30th 2008, 10:18
Just in case you havn't noticed the authorities are terrified of taking any action against bus drivers. The ADt is not needed to write the highway code as the bus drivers write their own as they see fit.
How many more complaints in newspapers must we see before action is taken?
Just do not hold your breath.
The reporting system for crime needs to be looked at. This pass the buck from police officers with the 'you must report it somewhere' else must stop. A case in point is the finding of a bundle of letters at Cirkewwa. The diver who found them reported what he found to the Cirkewwa police. He was then told to go to Qawra police station. Why? Don't the police have cars, radios, telephones and computers.
I believe that the whole system is designed in this way so people will be put off reporting crime and when a parliamentary question is asked about crime figures the minister, hand on heart, can report a very low crime figure.
I think all of Malta knows different.