A Swede resident in Pembroke, Nicklas Roland Sturk, has been handed a suspended jail term for insulting the Maltese adoptive mother of two African children and a refuse collector who is a migrant.

The incident took place in the morning of June 13.

On that day Christine and Peter Grima were in their house when they heard noises in the street immediately after their children (who are adopted and are African) had boarded the school bus .

They saw the accused arguing with an other neighbour. Peter Grima called the police. When the neighbour drove off, Mr and Mrs Grima heard the accused uttering insults and saying that he would kill all 'negros'.

Mrs Grima said that some time later she helped the refuse collected - a migrant - by carrying some of their refuse to the street corner.

She heard the defendant saying repeatedly “you f......g Maltese bitch, helping negros”. Grima ignored him and told refuse collector that it was best for him to ignore him as well.

As she walked back to her house the accused Nicklas Roland Sturk ran up to her repeating the same words. He came very close to her and she had to raise her hand to ward him off.

She then saw him grab the refuse collector, Youre Ali, and push him to the ground. She rushed to help him and Sturk backed off while shouting more racist insults.

When the refuse collector left, the accused turned to Mrs Grima and started shouting at her again, telling her: “you f....g stupid Maltese, you let immigrants run your country” and repeating that he woudl kill every negro.

This version of events was confirmed by Peter Grima who was going in and out of the house while all of this was happening since he was on the phone with the police.

The court noted that according to the police report of the incident, “RIU members could clearly hear the person making threats towards coloured people”.

The court noted that the accused had not contested that the incident took place but he denied pushing Youre Ali. He did not contest that he used the words indicated by Christine and Peter Grima.

He claimed that when he returned from Paceville at about 8am he saw a
'black man' on his doorstep and he reacted by pulling him down the stairs and neutralising him. At that point neighbours came out and tried to stop him and it was at that point that he had the altercation with the elderly neighbour.

He insisted that he reacted the way he did when he saw Youre Ali on his doorstep because of an assault he suffered a few weeks before. At the time he was assaulted by two persons who, he said, were black. He was stabbed and had a laptop stolen.

He did not realise that Youre Ali was there collecting refuse but thought that he was one of his assailants who had returned. He also explained that although he called for help when he was being attacked none of his neighbours offered any assistance.

The court said it was satisfied that the events took place in the sequence described by the Grimas and that the accused had alleged a different timeline in order to try to
excuse his behaviour and the words that he uttered.

"The Court is convinced that when defendant used the language that he did he was aware that his aggressors were not present, and that the person that he saw (Youre Ali) was the refuse collector."

The court found the accused guilty of incitement to racial hatred and creating a disturbance and condemned him to six months imprisonment suspended for two
years.