In making comments on Marsa in a recent court case, police superintendent Silvio Valletta wanted the accused to learn that Malta had laws and these had to be obeyed.

The police said today they wanted to clarify media reports on Supt Valletta’s comments during an arraignment in court.

timesomalta.com had reported Supt Valletta telling the court that Maltese people were becoming too scared of going to the area near the open centre in Marsa.

The police said that Supt Valletta was one of the prosecutors in the case against Somali Ali Mohammed Abhukhadir who pleaded guilty to theft from a vehicle, the illegal arrest of a person and of slightly injuring this person.

The defense lawyer asked the Courts to put the accused on probation but Supt Valletta did not agree and wanted to give the message that Malta had laws and these had to be obeyed.

So he insisted in court that even if there were no laws in the country the accused came from, he had to learn that in Malta there were laws and these had to be obeyed.

Supt Valletta, the police said, had told the Courts that one also had to ensure that Marsa did not become a no-go area for the Maltese and called on the Courts to give the accused a harsher sentence than that requested by his lawyer to ensure this.

It was the duty of the police, Supt Valletta had said, to ensure that Marsa did not become a no-go area.