Nobody wants to talk – that magisterial inquiry is going to be difficult

Published: November 22, 2014 at 2:35am

In Times of Malta’s print edition:

times sheehan

gun guidelines




42 Comments Comment

  1. Natalie says:

    “From the available evidence, those were not warning shots but an attempt to stop the car.” (From the second article)

    In addition to my earlier comment that this seems to be more than just about a minor car accident, the above sentence seems to confirm my suspicions. And remember, Mr. Smith’s car was wheeled away before any formal investigation started.

    What was in Mr. Smith’s car? I don’t like this story at all, it reeks of a messed-up deal or frame-up of some sort.

    • PWG says:

      More so if neither of the protagonists are arraigned.

    • Martin Vella says:

      Was this an illicit deal gone sour?

      The crime scene was tampered with so we cannot ever know unless a second inquiry is called.

      It is clear that the police security was desperate to stop the runaway car and its driver by all means.

  2. Albert Bonnici says:

    Another cover up

  3. Francis Saliba M.D. says:

    Gzira must have looked like a a frightened village in Sicily’s “Godfather” country in the Mafia heydays.

    This is the horrid frightened state into which Malta has been reduced after less than two years of hell during a period of government by Muscat’s Labour movement, that promised heaven on earth to all and sundry.

    A chilling omerta’ that is itself a most terrible indictment.

  4. Scoundrels says:

    Nu he vistu niente.

    Welcome to the omerta expected when PL/MLP are in power.

    If this had happened during the PN years people would have been queuing up to talk just for their 15 minutes of fame on television. Under the PL people are literally in fear for their lives.

  5. Madoff says:

    Maltese mafia at work.

  6. RF says:

    Who is the inquiry magistrate? Is he/she known for closing inquiries early?

    • Francis Saliba M.D. says:

      The inquiring magistrate has to be chosen very carefully and after months of wheeling and dealing whenever the Labour Movement is governing – just the same as when it has to choose its Commissioners of Police. We cannot afford to have them closing their careers in the Corradino Correctional Facility, do we? One was one too many.

  7. A V says:

    Sounds more like everyone is being warned not to broach the subject.

  8. Ris says:

    No one mentioned this before, but we’re talking about attempted murder here as when you shoot at someone your aim is to kill especially when targeting a car since you can’t be sure where the bullet is going to end up.

    But obviously since he’s Humpty Dumpty’s driver nothing is going to happen.

  9. Ris says:

    And whatever result will be of the magisterial inquiry no one will ever know the result as the minister himself won’t make it public as what he did with Inspector Taliana’s inquiry and more.

  10. Galian says:

    The question is will this inquiry take as long as all the others under this PL government.

  11. Mim says:

    Well, who said what would be available in the report, which would be going into the hands of the main actor’s buddies.

    Bystanders would be giving evidence which would harm their neighbour’s son, for whom a false DOI report was issued.

    People never refuse to say positive thngs, why would they? So this tells you what is the gist and implication of what they have to say – what they really witnesses. What is to be done will be decided by the main actor’s protector, the man with the police force at his beck and call.

    Can you blame them?

  12. Honestly now says:

    I deal with magistrate inquiries on a daily basis in my line of work.

    These take at least 18 months to be concluded.

    You tell me what impact it will have 18 months or so down the line?

    In the meantime Manuel Mallia will remain an MP and a government minister, unless he messes up even worse.

  13. El Mundo says:

    What happened to the Whistleblower Act they made such a fuss about.

  14. mf says:

    Will this inquiry be concluded before the one about the car parked on St. Luke’s helipad?

  15. Pippa says:

    They whistled it away.

  16. bob-a-job says:

    ‘Meanwhile the police yesterday turned down a request from this newspaper for a copy of the guidelines’

    So what’s changed?

    Well, under Carm Mifsu Bonnici the police abused their power and had a free run while he had a nap and now they abuse their power because it goes generally with the way the MLP thinks.

    ‘Police must reveal abuse claim procedures’

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141118/local/-Police-must-reveal-abuse-claim-procedures-.544560

    ‘This is not the first time ‘internal’ police policies are not being published. In October 2012, it took a Freedom of Information request by this paper for the police to publish guidelines on strip searches.’

    So what’s changed – apart from who’s getting the juicy jobs.

  17. Rorschach says:

    I wouldn’t be surprised if Morrison Smith also kept schtum about the incident. Who can blame him? If he says too much, his whole livelihood in Malta stands to be torn apart by the gun-toting thugs running the country.

  18. Krakow says:

    Would the policeman cum driver be charged with attempted murder?

    I am not saying this was premeditated, however when one brandishes a gun and fires at the a car haphazardly, the intent is certainly not to scare off but rather to put the other driver’s (and the general public) life in jeopardy.

  19. Manuel says:

    Whoever carries out the inquiry will have one thing nagging at the back of his mind. Minister Mallia is still in office.

    This fact will not help to establish the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

  20. pablo says:

    The Toad did not commit a criminal offence by lying so the Magistrate cannot be bothered with him.

    I have no doubt that Sheehan rang his boss, the Toad, within minutes of the incident.

    Now he either lied to his boss or admitted to plugging three shots into the back of a speeding car.

    Other cops then turn up in minutes and they can see the bullet holes in the car.

    I have no doubt by now that the Police Commissioner or some Assistant Commissioner was informed of the bullet holes. The next thing is that the car is placed on a police lorry ready to be carried away. Who else had spoken to the Toad by now?

    The press and photographers arrive sooner than expected. At some point the officers present speaking to Sheehan must have contested his “warning shots” alibi.

    Did he ask his mates to cover up for him?

    Is this the reason why they could not be seen arresting him? They left him standing around as if he was part of the investigation team while they handcuffed and took away the Brit.

    Who was the source that fed the DOI the false story? Was it the Coconut? Who told the Coconut?

    It must have been the Police Commissioner who, after the Department of Information release, finally stood his ground and told the Toad that the Toad could not run with this hit and run/warning shot crap as the truth was already out there on the internet and in the morrow’s papers.

    The Toad has surrounded himself with the wrong staff. He would have not walked into this mess if he had from the outset been a competent minister. He lied. Who lied to him? He cannot and will not tell us.

  21. Tom Double Thumb says:

    A new clause is to be added to the Whistle-Blower Act:

    “The provisions of this act apply only to events occurring under a Nationalist government. Under Labour any whistle-blower will be arrested and detained until he is persuaded to say nothing that could be used against the party in government.”

  22. Alla jilliberani mill-ingustizzja ta’ dan il-pajjiz mafjuz

  23. bob-a-job says:

    Meanwhile.

    ‘Court: Young Robbers end up in jail after using toy gun.’

    http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2009-06-05/local-news/Court-Young-Robbers-end-up-in-jail-after-using-toy-gun-225896

    That’s janice, oops sorry, justice for you.

  24. Makjavel says:

    And the Labour Times of Malta trolls could not manage to get the numbers changed in the should-Mallia-go poll.

    72% want him fired. A hell of a difference from the usual 55%.

  25. In nemusa says:

    Now that Smith has been released can we hear his version of events? Or will he be persecuted if he does?

  26. Francis Saliba M.D. says:

    Is not this reminiscent of the judicial farce of finding a judge fit to hear the Blue Sisters’ Hospital case with every judge recusing himself hoping to avoid having his hand burnt by politicians after handling that hot potato?

    In the case of magistrates it is always possible – horribile dictu – to entice someone with the carrot of a judgeship.

    Honi soit qui mal y pense.

  27. Someone says:

    Roberto Saviano has enough material for a new award winning book and movie stile Gomorrah.

  28. Lupin says:

    I take it that ‘we are not in the cowboy age now’ to mean that during PN in government years every citizen is free to speak his mind to the verge of abuse, half truths and lies whereas when PL is in government nobody plays the hero any longer.

  29. George Grech says:

    If Mr. Sheenan ran out of his mother’s house when he heard the ‘violent collision’, how could he have known that the collision was with his/the minister’s car? Didn’t his mother run out after him, seeing how upset her son was, and try to calm him down?

  30. victor says:

    Will Franco be the driver’s lawyer? He will try and get his nose into it .

  31. Mila says:

    Will the magistrate’s inquiry name the senior law enforcement officer on site who should have arrested and breathalyzed the gun-wielding, car-blocking driver, but did not?

    Or are we saying that in Malta, any civilian who has an incident with a police officer, whether on police duty or not, will expect the policeman’s buddies to respond and protect the policeman irrespective of whether he is the aggressor or not?

    Are we to start being afraid of calling 112 if in distress, just in case someone involved is an anointed police officer?

    Why did the police officer on site, who could see that a deadly weapon had been used against another person or his property, not protect the public and arrest Sheehan? Who decided to conclude, in spite of the glaring evidense, who the aggressor was and who was the victim?

    Sheehan has his actions to answer for but let this in no way diminish the responsibility of others to carry out THEIR duty. This is a multi-failure incident, it is in Muscat’s interest to deceive us by dangling Sheehan as a carrot when heat should be rightly put to a multi-vegetable soup.

    Is Sheehan suspended on full pay?

  32. Christiaan Huygens says:

    Watching a recording of an actual Mafia mega-trial on RAI TV some years ago, I once heard a witness testify about a Mafia murder: “Io non c’ero e se c’ero dormivo”.

    About the interview in Keith Micallef’s piece, should there be “trigger-happy policemen” in the first place? I think such policemen should not be trusted with any firearm, guidelines or no guidelines.

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