Simshar widow to be evicted

A widow of one of the victims of the Simshar fishing boat tragedy is expected to be evicted from the home that she had shared with her husband for 10 years and which is leased by her father-in-law and his sister.

Just three weeks after the funeral of Noel Carabott, who was 33, last summer, his wife Stephania received a letter from the lawyers of her father-in-law, Joseph Carabott and his sister Dolores asking her to vacate the property, she testified in court yesterday in a legal bid to have the eviction order overturned.

The property, in Marsaxlokk, is owned by the Joint Office, which had leased it out to Mr Carabott and his sister, Dolores. They had given permission to Mr and Mrs Carabott to live there after they married in April 1999 and it had been their residence since.

Since Stephania Carabott has no legal right to the property, however, Mr Justice Joseph Azzopardi yesterday turned down the request by her lawyer Kris Busietta to file a reply to the eviction order. This means that Stephanie has no other route but to comply with it.

Mr Justice Azzopardi is today expected to decide by when she must vacate the house.

Mrs Carabott has no children.

The Simshar tragedy gripped the nation last July. The boat went down in what the owner, Simon Bugeja had described as an explosion. He was the sole survivor, plucked from the sea after an intensive search by the AFM and fellow fisherman.

The others on the boat all perished: his 11-year-old son Theo, his father Carmelo Bugeja, Mr Carabott and 21-year-old Somali Abdulrahman Abdalla Gedi.

The boy's corpse was not found. Mr Bugeja had told rescuers that his son had died in his arms but eventually he lost the boy's grip and the boy's body drifted away.