Life in Malta – you just can't beat it.
For a population less than that of a small town in Germany, we certainly have a lot of interesting characters and transfixing events.
Let’s take today’s newspaper reports of yesterday’s ‘compilation of evidence’ that precedes a murder trial.
There was a toss-up between a knife and a harpoon and he took the knife because his girlfriend was worried about the harpoon. “I’m not a small boy. I can eat you.” Somehow, the violence inherent in the original Maltese is lost in translation, and in English it’s plain comical.
Here’s The Times.
“It was a choice between a harpoon and a knife and the man accused of murdering Anthony Borg, known as Il-Bona, opted for the latter before proceeding to Marsaxlokk square to meet the victim, a magistrate heard yesterday. (….)Mr Galea told the police he dismantled his stall at the flea market and considered taking a harpoon with him to the meeting but decided on a knife instead.”
And here’s The Malta Independent:
“Alan Galea, 31, of Luqa but residing in Marsaxlokk (….) told the police that he had considered taking a harpoon to a showdown meeting with Twanny Borg, il-Bona, the man he is accused of murdering. (….)
He told police officers at the depot that he considered taking a harpoon when he was to meet Borg, but decided otherwise. He had planned to take his girlfriend out for lunch on the day as he had made some money at the Marsaxlokk fish market but events took a different turn.
(….)The victim, Twanny Borg, had called him that day saying: ‘If you want to tell me something say it in front of people.’ He requested that they meet. Alan Galea allegedly replied: “I’m not a small boy. I can eat you.”
He told the police he considered taking a harpoon with him, but then decided to take a knife because his girlfriend was too worried.”
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One thing is missing from this whole story: the motive for the killing, the reason for the argument.
Honey, I’ve got to go see a man about a dog. Do you think I should take the chainsaw?
Life imitating art. Read “The Adventure of Black Peter”.
Just to let you know, site seems to be acting a little funny on firefox
Malta’s population is not less than that of a “small German town” – Bonn, Germany’s former capital has 300 000 inhabitants and is considered a medium sized city. Admittedly, Malta with more than 400 000 inhabitants hardly behaves more mundane than the people of Bonn…
It’s like a gunfight at the OK Corral, the Marsaxlokk fisherman version. I agree with George D regarding the motive for the killing. Why hasn’t this emerged yet?
‘I will eat you’. Well, he did miss lunch with his girlfriend so he must have been hungry.
Malta Today headline : ‘Shark Killed By Harpoon’.
I’ve read “harpoon” in the news before, concerning some other crime case. Pardon my ignorance, but does it literally mean a harpoon – like in Moby Dick? Or is the use of the word some kind of weird Maltese reference.
Do the newspapers have to conduct a literal translation of what is said in front of a Court? If not, then I suppose that the reporting could be better. I guess that it would be better if instead of quotes, the paper summarises what was said or translates any figurative speech.
It seems that after Bona was murdered it suddenly occurred to all and sundry that he was a loan shark and messed around with cocaine. Not a word when he was around.
Regardless of what is being reported by the media – the victim was just that “a victim”. No one should have their life taken from them – this man was also a brother and uncle.