UPDATED THURSDAY MORNING - adds details, previous court case involving police officer, minister's press conference, man fined in another ministerial car crash

A ministerial driver who fired three shots after a minister's car was hit by another car, has been suspended from escort duties and the police force, pending the outcome of a magisterial inquiry.

The incident happened late yesterday when the ministerial driver, Police Constable Paul Sheenan, who works for Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia, was visiting his mother in Gzira while the minister was at a function at police headquarters.

The driver heard a noise and went out to see what happened.  

According to a government spokesman, the minister's car was hit by a car driven by a Briton, Stephen Smith, 30, who drove on. The minister's driver gave chase.

When the two cars arrived near Tal-Qroqq tunnels, the minister's driver attempted to block the other car and the Briton tried to ram the minister's car. He then got out of his car with a beer bottle in hand.

The minister's driver then fired two shots in the air, according to the official statement sent in last night.

The Briton ran off into the tunnels where he was picked up by officers from the Rapid Intervention Unit who took him to Msida police station for a breathalyser test, which he refused. He has been kept under arrest.

However, it was confirmed this morning that three shots were actually fired by the minister's driver, all of which hit the rear of the Briton's vehicle - on an indicator lamp, the roof and the bumper. 

It was not clear how the bullet holes penetrated the back of the Briton's vehicle, with other reports indicating that the shots were fired earlier, when he had an argument with the minister's driver, before the Briton drove away.

MINISTER'S PRESS CONFERENCE

Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia said he had two police escort officers who served as drivers and they were armed. This was not unusual, he stressed.

He admitted that the ministry had claimed yesterday that the shots were fired in the air when they had actually hit the car, but otherwise he stuck by the official version. He said he regretted efforts by some to give a version which was "far from the truth".

The minister refused to specify when asked, whether the constable had been actually suspended from his job as a policeman or just from escort duties.

Later, Times of Malta was officially informed that the constable had been suspended from the police force.

Asked where the shots were actually fired, the minister said he would not get into the specifics of the case as that was subject to an inquiry. He said, however, that the Briton had been driving in a dangerous manner and had possibly been under the influence of drink. He also said the constable identified himself.

This was not a case which involved the ministry, which he stressed, had nothing to hide and wanted the truth to come out.

He said the officer involved in the past distinguished himself citing for example a case when he caught a hunter hunting illegally, despite being off duty. On another occasion, also while off duty, he helped put out a fire in a shop.

It was true, he said, that the officer in 2000 was fined €30 as a contravention after he was convicted of uttering vulgar language and hindering Superintendent Ray Zammit from carrying out his duties during a disturbance in a football match but said that should not detract his career.

 

 

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