Żebbuġ ‘Batman’ hailed a hero

A Żebbuġ hairdresser became the town hero for his instrumental role in the arrest of a man suspected of having terrorised the neighbourhood over the past weeks.

“It was scary when the hooded man walked in and started pointing a metal gun at all the people in the salon... and then at me. But when he turned the gun onto a 12-year-old boy, who was crying and lying on the ground in terror, Ilost it,” Patrizio Parascandalo recounted.

With adrenaline still pumping through his veins, the 31-year-old animatedly described how he told the thief to leave the boy alone and, in so doing, became the target once again. Mr Parascandalo pushed away the robber’s arm to remove the gun from in front of his face, started hitting the thief and pulled off his brown balaclava, to reveal the face of a man in his 50s. This eventually led to the arrest of a man who was yesterday charged over five hold-ups on Żebbuġ shops.

“Businesses in the area were living in fear they might be next. Some were even locking their doors as a security measure so that customers had to knock... Patrizio is our hero... he’s very loved in Żebbuġ,” said one of the villagers who popped into the salon yesterday to thank and congratulate Mr Parascandalo.

With a smile on his face, the hairdresser enthusiastically gave a frame-by-frame description of what happened on Friday evening when his shop became the robber’s fifth target.

At about 5.30 p.m., Mr Parascandalo was behind the counter of his salon when the hooded man walked in and pointed the gun at everyone else there: his assistant, who was washing a man’s hair, another man and woman and the 12-year-old boy.

The thief, who did not utter a word throughout the whole ordeal, suddenly turned the gun on Mr Parascandalo and pointed to the cash register.

Mr Parascandalo told him he was not going to give him any money. But when the hairdresser saw that his assistant was sobbing, he opened the cash and handed the intruder €30.

Unsatisfied with the amount, the thief kept pointing at the cash register and held Mr Parascandalo at gun point. When the thief saw this was not working, he headed towards the boy and pointed the gun at his head.

“The boy was crying, lying face down on the ground, covering his head with his hands and saying: ‘No, no, no’... That’s when I lost it. I told the thief not to treat children like that.

“He aimed the gun at me and I hit his arm to move it away from my face. It remained in his hand. I started punching him until he fell to the ground. I then pulled the balaclava off his face. He tried to get away and hide his face,” he recounted as he jetted from one side of the salon to another.

As Mr Parascandalo held on to the thief, who was crawling on the ground and trying to make his way to the door, the two men fell onto a glass pane that formed part of the door. The glass broke and, as fragments flew, Mr Parascandalo was slightly injured in the face.

The thief ran away and Mr Parascandalo and his cousin, whom he met outside the salon, went to look for him. They saw him walk calmly into an alley. They chased him and hit him. He pointed the gun at them in a very menacing way, so they left.

Meanwhile, the police had been called to the salon and Mr Parascandalo could describe the robber. With this information in hand, the police soon located the man and arrested him.

“Thinking back, I’m not sure I did the wise thing by fighting back... It was traumatic to look down a barrel of a gun,” the young hairdresser reflected.

His wife, Katia, agreed with him and pointed out this was not his first heroic act.

About a year ago he had saved a 14-year-old girl from getting raped as she walked through the narrow streets of Żebbuġ.

“I feel as though I’m married to Batman,” she teased her husband with a smile.

Charged in court

A man from Żebbuġ was charged with stealing about €1,300 from five shops in his hometown over a span of five weeks.

The 51-year-old man, whose name cannot be published by court order, pleaded not guilty to stealing the money in five occasions between December 18 and last Friday.

Facing 16 charges, he pleaded not guilty to stealing cash, holding people against their will and being in possession of a weapon during the thefts that took place in two pharmacies, a green grocer, an underwear shop and a hairdresser.

He also pleaded not guilty to slightly injuring the hairdresser in the hold-up which took place on Friday.

Defence counsel Gabrielle Zammit and Daniela Mangion did not ask for bail but requested that their client be remanded at the forensic section of Mount Carmel Hospital, explaining that the man had been under psychiatric care for a number of years.

Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona remanded the man in custody and recommended the prison director to transfer him to Mount Carmel Hospital and have him examined by a psychiatrist.

Police Inspectors Anthony Portelli and Anthony Cachia prosecuted.