Monday, 6th October 2008 - 15:29CET
Gozitan jailed for 30 years for warden's murder
Benny Attard, 50 of Xaghra, was this afternoon jailed for 30 years for the murder of Gozitan warden Fortunata Spiteri in 2001.
Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo said that the murder seemed to be more motivated by money more than fear, as the accused had claimed.
The Court could not ignore the fact that the murder was premeditated and the victim was a public officer on duty.
Mr Attard this morning filed a guilty plea instead of undergoing trial by jury.
He was accused of having, with others, held and stabbed the warden while she was on duty on August 10 at about 9.45 p.m.
Another person is awaiting trial for the same crime.
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When I was in Gozo last summer urrrr I found nothing whatsoever to do accept for smoke cigarettes and eat. Gozo is a peaceful place but too much of it gets to your head. Unlike Gozo, Malta is more lively, and you still do find places were there is noise and peace. Gozo will never be like Malta, your mentality is to be conservative.
The fact is that Malta and Gozo are one of the best places in the world to live in when considering everything: political stability, social conscience, safety, living standards, no natural disasters, etc etc. However it is very unfortunate that our charachter is such that we always have to moan and complain about nothing. The Maltese love to debate and argue. We just die to have a confrontation regardless the topic.
In this case, we have a non Maltese/Gozitan like yourself who is praising our islands, yet some people are so politically blinded that anything positive that is said or done to islands has to be rubbished and this despite the fact that you are in a much better position to judge our islands because you can compare. The government is spending millions to improve our image to increase tourism and then we get some idiot like this.
Benson, thank you for your praise and lets hope you can pass on the good word to your family and friends back home.
I lived in Gozo at the time of the murder, and although there is a lot to criticise (like is done in every single argument in which anything vaguely Gozitan is mentioned, and sometimes rightly so) what you said about Gozo, at least in this particular case, is a simple empty claim without a hint of essence or substance.
What is it that makes you believe that Benny Attard made a guilty plea and excluded all the other suspects? Do you sincerely believe that he pleaded guilty, was jailed for 30 years, and didn't make sure that the others will follow suit? And you actually think that the lawyer is THAT naive?
This apart from the fact that you managed to drag the whole Gozitan population in a murder case... That a number of (both) Gozitan and Maltese citizens would rather not get involved, not even with an anonymous phone call is more than true. But saying something like 'truth never comes out' in Gozo is simply pathetic. What you said is not about 'omerta' but you included the Judiciary system and all that comes with it.
No Benson, its got to do with the size of the country, education, culture, how we are brought up from when we are kids etc.. But do you really think that in Malta we do not have our fair share of brutal crimes ? Don't know how long you've been living in Malta, but believe me, sometimes people are murdered here for sick silly things.
30 yrs if I am not mistaken, he will be out in 15years with good behaviour,
he will then be 65 years of age.......
and the victim?
Somehow, this person might have felt more at peace with himself by pleading guilty, rather that go through with the jury and lying through his teeth. Being a crime allegedly committed by more than one person, hiding the eventual truth is difficult and probably futile.