Walking back home from the bank one evening, a 76-year-old man was robbed of practically his entire pension, leaving him penniless for the rest of the month.
Antonio Brincat was walking through Mazzola Street in St Paul’s Bay at 9.30 p.m. on August 6 when he was approached by three men who demanded the money in his possession. He told them he had no cash on him but the assailants promptly pointed out the fact that he had just withdrawn money from an ATM nearby.
He immediately handed over the money and, speaking about that ordeal almost a week later, Mr Brincat says he could barely recognise the robbers because “they ran away like snakes”.
Still shaken by the experience, Mr Brincat is perhaps angrier that he has found very little help since rather than that he has been robbed. This, he insists, left him with nothing to live on except for some groceries he had bought the morning of the robbery.
“I owe my landlord €300 for a month’s rent and the rest were for daily needs for the rest of the month. I called Social Services and no one can help me. All I was given were a few papers to fill to be able to collect foodstuffs from my parish. Where is the fund for victims of crime in Malta,” Mr Brincat, who lived in the UK for a long time, asked.
He insists there should be a special fund for victims of petty crime such as the one he was involved in. “At least, people like me would have something to live on.”
Mr Brincat, who smokes, is trying to kick the habit now that he has no money to buy cigarettes but admits that, “thankfully”, the owner of a shop opposite his residence understands his situation and gave him limited credit for cigarettes.
His landlord, he adds, was, however, somewhat less understanding. Mr Brincat notes he was not in a position to pay the €300 monthly rent but the landlord insisted he wanted the payment for two months of rent by the end of this month, after which he would give him one week to move out if he fails to pay up.
He says a fund for victims of crime would, at least, cushion the impact of such incidents because he is still going to find it difficult to be able to afford paying two months of rent with his next pension.
The police confirmed having received a report of the robbery and are investigating the case.
Although the road where the robbery took place was dark, it is understood that investigators are analysing closed circuit television footage, including those from CCTV cameras at Buġibba Square, where the ATM Mr Brincat withdrew money from is located, to try to identify the perpetrators.