'I thought robbers were going to kill me'

Leaning against the front door, Mariano Spiteri, 77, takes a drag on his cigarette and peeps out, his blue eyes clouding over with fear, as his frail fingers wrestle with the locks.

"I no longer feel comfortable in my home. I'm too scared to leave for my usual one-hour walk in the morning, and I cannot get rid of the uneasiness I feel," he says.

Mr Spiteri is still recovering from the trauma he endured when two hooded men kicked in his front door and ransacked his humble abode in Qormi two weeks ago.

He is just one of several senior citizens who still live in society, going about their lives in a bid to remain independent. Yet they are vulnerable targets to crime. According to a shocking statistic recently published in Parliament, 4,937 senior citizens fell victim to crime between January 1, 2006, and October 31.

Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, who was replying to a question from Labour MP Carmelo Abela, was not in position to say how many offenders had been arrested or what sentences were awarded, because these records are not computerised.

Mr Spiteri, who lives with his 75-year-old wife Mananni, is one such statistic. He is convinced his life will never be the same again, that his feeling of security was stripped away when the robbers invaded his space.

The incident happened just after his wife left home to attend Mass at 6 p.m. Mr Spiteri usually rises at 4 a.m., so by 6 p.m. he's normally in bed. Just as he was drifting off he heard a loud thud against the front door and the metal lock crashing on the tiles.

As he got out of bed and switched on the lights, he came face to face with the men, whose faces were covered with black woollen hoods. One of them pushed him against the bed, pressing his thumbs against the old man's fragile throat and barking orders not to move.

Mr Spiteri obeyed, standing there shaking, too feeble to utter a word or put up a fight against the men as they ransacked his bedroom dragging drawers across the floor and rummaging through their contents.

"One of them had a big metal rod in his hand and I didn't budge... They were shouting, 'give us whatever you have'. I was shaking and could not utter a word. I assumed they would kill me," he said.

The robbery was over in 15 minutes and the thieves ran away.

They made off with some of Mrs Spiteri's antique jewellery - four rings, a pair of earrings and a gold necklace - and €4,658 (Lm2,000) in cash.

"I had been saving the money for my grandchild's wedding," she said, her eyes fixed on the tiles.

"We live on a pension and now we have nothing left. We're supposed to live in a Catholic country, but too many thieves are getting away with it. Hardly anyone is ever caught," she adds.

Mr Spiteri is still struggling to shake off the image of the attack that is seared in his mind: "I can barely close my eyes at night. I just see them standing before me. I'm always on the alert, expecting somebody to walk in on us."

The couple would feel safer if there was some kind of neighbourhood watch for the elderly, who are particularly vulnerable.

When contacted, Local Councils Association president Michael Cohen said that when this idea was originally mooted, neighbours were not very cooperative, and so far no such plan existed.

However, Mr Cohen said some form of shared residences for the elderly within the different towns and villages could be considered as part of the social element within the local council reform.

"I will put forward this idea so that we can start a debate and eventually we can reach a situation where senior citizens can feel safer living in their homes."

That is not likely to be the case for the Spiteris any time soon.