10 years ago - The Sunday Times
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Magistrate hits back at minister, criticises colleague
A magistrate broke the code of silence usually adhered to by the judiciary to launch a scathing attack on the justice minister, an ex-colleague and the Commission for the Administration of Justice over recently-published statistics that show an alarming backlog of pending inquiries.
Magistrate Giovanni Grixti, who was appointed in 1996, says in a letter in today’s The Sunday Times that most of the 231 cases attributed to him were inherited last year from former Magistrate Joseph Cassar, whose files, he adds, were kept in “a very disorganised fashion”.
The angry letter comes in response to official statistics from the Justice Ministry published in this newspaper last Sunday. The data showed that there were 1,769 pending magisterial inquiries in Malta and 300 in Gozo as of last May. Joseph Apap Bologna, Michael Mallia and Giovanni Grixti placed in the top three with 381, 339 and 231 pending inquiries respectively.
However, Dr Grixti says in his letter that he inherited 219 of them from Dr Cassar and added that Justice Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici should check his facts before going public on such matters.
“My average backlog of inquires invariably stands at 30 and never dating more than two years,” he said.
25 years ago - The Times
Tuesday, July 6, 1993
SightFirst Project: Campaign to combat blindness
Parliamentary Secretary for Health John Rizzo Naudi yesterday launched the SightFirst Malta Project, a campaign aimed at beating preventable and reversible blindness. The project is backed by the World Health Organisation and the Association of Maltese Lions Clubs.
Prof. Rizzo Naudi said the Department of Health is organising a screening programme at the health centres at Paola, Rabat, Mosta, Floriana and Gżira. People aged 40 and over who have a history of glaucoma or diabetes or a condition that might put their vision at risk, will be screened to detect at an early stage cases of glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, cataract and low vision, and initiate a treatment programme.
Maltese man in Sheffield charged with murder
Anthony Caruana, 39, of Netherthrope, Sheffield, was yesterday arraigned in a Sheffield court and charged with the murder of Shaun Hadley, a 23-year-old builder from Dronfield on Friday night and the attempted murder of police constable Graham Saunders. Mr Hadley died from a shotgun wound to the chest outside a Sheffield nightclub.
Half a century ago - Times of Malta
Saturday, July 6, 1968
Prince Charles tours Gozo
The Prince of Wales spent yesterday morning on an informal tour of Gozo, including a visit to Ġgantija Temples, His Royal Highness being a keen student of archaeology. Prince Charles, who toured the Trade Fair yesterday evening, will be touring archaeological sites in Malta this morning and playing polo in the afternoon.
Perhaps the most excited group of people in Gozo yesterday were the Dominican nuns of Lourdes Home, Għajnsielem, where Prince Charles spent considerable time touring the home for children, to see the expansion and renovation work carried out by personnel from the British Army and the American Navy.
His Royal Highness arrived in the launch Eden at Xlendi, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the Queen’s uncle, having particularly singled out the picturesque inlet as one of the sights for the prince to visit.
Prince Charles was accompanied by the Governor General, Sir Maurice Dorman, and attended by Squd. Ldr. David Checketts, his equerry. Also in attendance was Captain Claude Gaffiero, the Governor General’s Asst ADC.
The Prince of Wales was welcomed by Capt. J.W. Attard, the Commissioner for Gozo, who presented Mgr N. Cauchi, Apostolic Administrator, Chev. A. Tabone, president of the Gozo Civic Council, and Supt. J. Cachia, senior police officer.