The Home Affairs Minister’s security driver, Paul Sheehan, was hospitalised yesterday after he and his brother flew into a rage when a magistrate turned up outside their mother’s Gżira home for an onsite inquiry.
Mr Sheehan was reportedly suffering from chest pains.
He hit the headlines last week after allegedly firing shots at the car of an unarmed Scottish driver, Stephen Smith, who collided with the minister’s vehicle.
The commotion was triggered when Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras arrived with senior police officers at Triq Nikol Kottoner, where his mother lives.
This is also where Mr Smith is said to have hit Manuel Mallia’s official car, a Mercedez Benz.
Witnesses said that when Mr Sheehan’s brother saw the magistrate approaching their apartment block, he started swearing, entered the apartment and shouted “no one will take him from here” (ħadd m’hu se joħorġu min hawn).
Mr Sheehan, a police constable, was also heard swearing and shouting, and witnesses said they heard the sound of furniture being broken inside the apartment.
A short while later, an ambulance was called and Mr Sheehan was taken to hospital.
The incident came as a number of news portals were yesterday reporting that Mr Sheehan would be arraigned within the day, possibly facing the charge of attempted murder.
This did not happen but he is expected to be arraigned in the coming days, although the exact charges could not be established yesterday.
Shortly after this development, the Office of the Prime Minister announced it would set up a board of inquiry to look into allegations that there was an initial attempt to cover up the incident by the Home Affairs Ministry.
On the night of the incident, last Wednesday, the government had issued a statement saying Mr Sheehan fired warning shots into the air. It later emerged that bullets had entered Mr Smith’s car.
The next day the government said it simply relayed the initial information that emerged from the scene at the time.
However, questions were also raised about the fact that the police – who fall under Dr Mallia’s ministerial portfolio – moved the Scotsman’s car before the inquiring magistrate even arrived at the spot, interfering with the crime scene.
The former judges on the board are Albert Magri, as chairman, JD Camilleri and Philip Sciberras. The board was given a fortnight to deliver its findings.
The magistrate went to the Gżira apartment yesterday as part of an ongoing inquiry into the shooting incident, in which Mr Sheehan chased the Briton through the streets of Gżira and Msida following the initial collision.
At one point, the policeman managed to catch up with the Scotsman in Wied il-Kappara, a residential road at the back of the national pool, but when he emerged from his car brandishing a gun, Mr Smith took off again, according to sources.
It is alleged that at this point he shot at the car, hitting it in the rear.
The car chase ended in the tunnels beneath the skate park in Msida.