Monday, 22nd December 2008
Police averted 'massacre' in Mqabba shooting
Carmel Saliba (centre) being escorted into court yesterday evening. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli
It was only the presence of the police that prevented a massacre from being committed by Carmel Saliba, a magistrate heard yesterday as Mr Saliba was charged with the attempted murder of 20 people at the PN club in Mqabba on Saturday night.
Mr Saliba, 31, from Kirkop, was remanded in custody after pleading not guilty to the attempted murder of the people who were inside the club by firing several shots in their direction from outside.
Standing before presiding magistrate Joseph Apap Bologna, Mr Saliba also denied seriously injuring Sylvana Callus and Omar Cucciardi and slightly injuring nine people, aged between 21 and 37, who were in the club at the time of the shooting.
In his request for bail, legal aid lawyer Martin Fenech told the court that his client had left the club after an argument broke out inside. However, when he returned in his car, he found the doors closed.
"He shot at the closed door - he never intended to kill or hurt anyone," argued Dr Fenech.
In fact, he explained, people were injured because they happened to be near the shut door. "It was just his bad luck that he hurt people when he fired the shots."
In a further effort to convince the court that his client had no intention of killing anyone, Dr Fenech pointed out that Mr Saliba did not fire again through any of the four pellet holes made in the door.
Objecting to the request for bail, prosecuting Inspector Anthony Portelli told the court that Mr Saliba fired shots at the door as it was being closed by people in the club.
Insp. Portelli said that Mr Saliba had met a man he had an argument with about 10 months ago. "This man tried to buy a drink for Mr Saliba, who refused and left."
The police were immediately summoned and soon after they arrived, they saw Mr Saliba driving his Toyota in the direction of the club at very high speed.
"He got out of the car carrying a shotgun. The police tried to overpower him while the people inside the club were trying to close the door," said Insp. Portelli.
Mr Saliba, he continued, was calling to the people inside the club to come out.
"He knew exactly what he was doing. Thank God the police were there as it would have been a massacre," said the inspector, adding that "Malta has become a cowboy town with people shooting at doors."
He said the police had risked their lives by taking the action they did.
Mr Saliba also denied being in possession of a stolen automatic shotgun without a police licence, carrying the gun during the commission of a crime, firing the shotgun in an inhabited area, attacking and violently resisting police officers and disobeying their orders, breaching public order and damaging the front door of the PN's club.
He further denied driving his car dangerously and in a negligent manner, damaging Michel Farrugia's vehicle, insulting Mr Farrugia and using vulgar language in public.
Mr Saliba also pleaded not guilty to committing a crime during the operative period of a two-year conditional discharge.
Dr Fenech made a second submission on his client's behalf in case the court denied his first request for bail. He explained that, as a pastime, Mr Saliba kept several sheep that had just given birth to lambs and asked the court to allow his client to visit them for one hour every day.
Magistrate Apap Bologna refused to grant either request and remanded Mr Saliba in custody.
Police Inspectors Anthony Portelli, Michael Mallia and Priscilla Caruana prosecuted.
Lawyer Martin Fenech appeared as legal aid for Mr Saliba. Lawyers Franco Debono and Charmaine Cherrett appeared in parte civile for the victims.
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Comments
These aren't smuggled or black market weapons that are used in incident after incident: it's shotguns and rifles that are used in their hundreds each year to shoot birds with our laws' blessing. Unless the gun-availability is addressed, our towns will continue to be cowboy-land.
Regarding the incident at Mqabba. the police were told that the individual had fled the scene and might be back, and no one knew that he was going back armed with a shotgun. how often arguments that airise, do always finish up in a shooting spree? i would think so, that if they knew what was going to happen, they would have been armed up to their teeth. What if they were, and one of them had killed the agressor would you be the first to comment of excessive force?
To the poor state of the force, the police needs men like you to teach them how to deal in these incidents. If you had family members in the police you would have commented otherwise.
I think I must reply to your comments.
The problem is that when the police shoot, we comment that they used excesive force, and when the do not shoot we comment because they did not. While a shotgun is definatly more obvious, a knife is also classified by law as a lethal weapon, as is also a car if it is being driven in the direction of a person with the intent to kill and many other examples.
We are bringing our police officers in a situation that they do not want to take the responsbility of using their weapons, for the fear of being prosecuted themselves after. Remember that underneath the blue uniform is a human being, with feelings, family, a wife and children, and after an 8 hour shift, they all want to go back home to their families.
The dicision to shoot falls only to the person who is holding the weapon. If the commisioner or any other superior officer is present and orders another officer to refuse, he has the lagal right to refuse, and such order, would be considered as an illegitimate order.
Coming back to the Imqabba shooting, one might ask: what were the police waiting for to stop the shooter from not even shooting?
The irony is this: for the police to stop a man with a knife there was the need to kill. For the police to block a man carrying a firearm with the possibility of killing all those people the police had to confront him with bare hands and as the article perfectly states, they risked their own lives!
Summing up both incidents in Qormi and Imqabba, one would surely conclude my same points about the poor state the police force is in!