A magistrate this afternoon ordered the authorities to examine an elderly man who allegedly threatened to blow up his neighbours to determine whether he was fit to continue living alone at home or whether he needs to be admitted to a home for the elderly where he can be cared for and monitored.
The man, 74, repeatedly told Magistrate Ian Farrugia he wanted to stay at home and that he was “bluffing” when he made his gas blast comment.
He pleaded with the magistrate to “forgive him” for what he had said. He implored the court not to send him to a home for the elderly because he was adamant on not going.
“You and I both know what is best for you and that is being admitted to a home where they can look after you and where you can find your food ready. How can you go home? To live alone?” the magistrate told the man.
He replied: ““I do not want to go. I’m sorry. Just let me go home where I have lived for almost 41 years. I tried three homes for the elderly, including St Vincent de Paul but I cannot live there and that is why I left.”
To the magistrate’s question of whether he was married, the man replied: “God forbid...I would have killed her on the first night.”
The people in the courtroom burst out into fits of laughter throughout the proceedings, with the magistrate patiently trying to explain and convince the man that he needed help.
He said the court had been trying its best to find a solution to the problem but the authorities all informed the court that they did not see any particular reason why the man had to be admitted to a home or a psychiatric hospital.
The man appeared in court with a bandaged hand because he had fallen down the stairs of the St Julian’s police station. He got to Valletta by taxi, he told the court.
He appeared before Magistrate Farrugia charged with repeatedly threatenening to blow up his neighbours, forcing them to flee from their residence with their young child.
Magistrate Farrugia put off the case to January next year by when he expected the authorities to see to the situation “with utmost urgency”.
“The court believes there should be the immediate intervention of the Department for the Elderly and all authorities concerned, who should revise their previous position on this 74-year-old who requires attention and help. They should not only look at what he wants to do but should also see what is in his best interest and of those who live around him,” the magistrate decreed.