Simshar widow loses 'Noel's sanctuary'

The widow of Simshar victim Noel Carabott will be out on the streets in four months after a court upheld a request to evict her by her late husband's father and aunt.

This is the latest blow for the woman who just eight months ago lost her 33-year-old husband in the fishing boat tragedy that left three men and an 11-year-old boy dead.

"If only he were still alive to see what they are doing to me," Stephania Carabott said yesterday in desperation after being told she has to vacate the house she shared with her husband for 10 years.

When contacted, her father-in-law, Joseph Carabott, had little sympathy for Mrs Carabott's plight. "I've got other children to look after... I don't want any outsiders," he said when asked why he wanted Mrs Carabott out of the house. "Everything ended with his death," he added, before he cut the line.

Mrs Carabott received the first eviction letter just three weeks after the funeral.

"Noel's father walked up to me and said: Pack your bags; you have no business to be here anymore," Mrs Carabott said.

When she asked him why he was doing this, she said he replied coldly:

"My son is dead now".

She said she had no place where to stay now as her only relative, her brother, had absolutely no space at home as he had two children.

She has no right over the Marsaxlokk farmhouse where she lived with her late husband Noel because her father-in-law and his sister, Dolores, had leased the property from the Joint Office which owns the building.

When they moved into the house, it was little more than a shed because there were no tiles on the floor and electricity cable were all hanging out. To bring the property up to scratch the couple had to spend thousands of euros, Mrs Carabott said.

Still, legally speaking, the woman had no claim to the property. Her lawyer, Kris Busietta, had asked the court to be able to file a reply to the eviction notice but Mr Justice Joseph Azzopardi turned down the request ruling she had no right over the property.

He issued a decree yesterday, giving her four months to leave the place.

She said she had made a vow that if she ever won the battle to stay put she would re-name the farmhouse from Tina to Is-santwarju ta' Noel (Noel's Sanctuary) because he used to love that house so much.

Mrs Carabott recounted how her late husband had once told her that if someone should ever evict them from the house, he would have to be carried away to prison because he would not allow it.

"This eviction was aimed at Noel even though I received it" she said.

The Simshar tragedy gripped the nation last July when the boat did not return from a fishing trip and an intensive search was launched.

The sole survivor, Simon Bugeja, described how an explosion sank the boat. He later described to rescuers that his son had died in his arms but eventually he lost the boy's grip and his son's body drifted away.