Protecting the privacy of perverts
If you’re a private person found dead on the lavatory of a drug overdose, your name is published in the newspapers. If you’re a 20-year-old who crashes and dies on the way home after a night out, your name is broadcast, your dead body filmed, the blood on the ground brought into focus, and the contents of your car (hairbrush, handbag, hair-dryer) itemised in the newspapers. If you steal a handbag, your name and – if you’re not Maltese – nationality are spelled out in the press.
Ah, but if you’re a pervert who preys on children, that’s different, and you’re entitled to privacy even when you’re convicted. Usually, the name of the aggressor/predator is kept out of the news – by order of the court – only when he is directly related to or connected with his victim. And this is done to protect the privacy of the victim, not the sexual deviant. So if X is convicted of ‘defiling’ his neighbour’s six-year-old daughter, X’s name is not published because then it would be a simple matter of identifying the girl.
The only case I can recall in which there was no ban on the publication of names of men accused of abusing children in their care is that of the dreadful Pandolfino brothers. And that was a good thing, too, given that they used to run a riding-school for children.
But now we have had a surprising new development. A 37-year-old man was found guilty of sending sexy text messages to his pupils and of having innuendo-laden exchanges with them in Internet chat-rooms when he taught religion – if you please – at a private school. He admitted his guilt, and was given a two-year prison sentence suspended for four years. Of course, he no longer teaches at the school.
The magistrate ordered a ban on the publication of the names of the school, pupils and teacher. I can understand the ban on the pupils’ names, but the school? Like every other organisation, if it has a public relations problem as big as this, it just has to deal with it. It shouldn’t expect the court to conceal its identity and, in so doing, conceal important information from parents and other pupils. But clearly, it did expect the court to do this and was successful in securing the ban, unless it was the magistrate’s initiative.
As for concealing the name of the pervert-cum-religion-teacher, this beggars belief. People are entitled to know who this man is, not least so that he is not allowed into contact with children again, and not just in a school either. He might have friends with children or a girlfriend with children, or even brothers and sisters with children. Those who think that they were ‘only’ text messages or ‘only’ Internet comments are naïve.
Most interestingly of all, this story appeared briefly on The Times’ news portal this afternoon under the heading ‘Teacher admits sending SMSes with sexual connotations to students’. It had already begun to generate a stream of comments when it suddenly disappeared, and can’t be accessed now. Of course, that should be ‘pupils’ and not ‘students’ – college and university students are more than able to cope with sexy messages from irritating teachers, even though it still constitutes an offence. With pupils in a school classroom, it’s a different matter altogether.
Bring back pupils
Will somebody please explain to me why the word ‘pupils’ has disappeared from the lexicon in Malta? Children in school are not students. They’re pupils. You become a student when you go to college or university. The Americans use the word ‘students’ to describe kids in school, but our variant of the language is supposed to be British English, not American English. The newspapers insist on calling schoolchildren ‘students’ and the schools themselves are making this mistake. I remember ripping up in irritation practically every circular I received from the independent school my sons went to, and struggling against the urge to scrawl PUPILS in large red letters across it before posting it back. I can’t stand this kind of sloppiness. Different words have discrete meanings – hence students and pupils. Anyone who speaks British English and reads a headline about a teacher sending sexy messages to students will automatically assume that those students were post-pubescent and that the man in question wasn’t a paedophile.
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Not just that, but 4 YEARS ONLY???
So a drug addict who is harming no one but himself, can end up to ten years in jail, and a pedophile who isn’t really harming himself, but is harming others end up in jail for just 4 years!
It’s also unbelievable….
And given that Malta’s collective social conscience is pretty low, you can be sure that no organization will come forward and challenge this ruling.
On a related issue, whatever happened to the Bishop of Gozo’s investigation into the infamous Fr. Anthony Mercieca who was accused by former U.S. Congressman Mark Foley of molesting him as a child? Was the investigation ever completed? If so, what were the findings? If not, what stage has it reached? This is the famous Fr. Mercieca who was interviewed by CNN and was broadcast around the world saying that he did nothing wrong really because there was no “penetraxin”!!
Although it is precisely how I felt when I read the news, I think you were too good Daphne.
It is unbelievable, every citizen has the right to know who these persons are, because it is well documented that with paedophiles and perverts relapsing is the rule rather than the exception, and relapsing means ruining a child’s life forever. Then they are proud publishing the names of 5 teenagers sharing a joint in a car, what a bunch of hypocrites. At least I hope that this person is kept under surveillance and psychologically tested from time to time.
Daphne – My thoughts exactly. I had actually emailed letters to both The Times and The Malta Independent saying more-or-less the same thing, that whilst protecting the identity of the children concerned is understandable, nobody has given a toss about all children who can now become this pervert’s prey, thanks to the non-publication of his name and of that of the school concerned.
Strangely, The times online first:
a) showed the article, including the name of the magistrate (a Magistrate Vella, whose first name I am not 100% sure of, and will so not mention here), then
b) showed the article, this time without any reference to the name of the magistrate concerned, then
c) removed the article totally, despite its heading still showing around half-way up the “Most e-mailed” list in the right-hand panel of The Times website, then
d) removed any reference to such heading from the “Most e-mailed” section.
If you run a Google search with the words “Teacher sexual connotations”, however, the article does come up partially, however on clicking on it, it shows as inaccessible.
Why all this secrecy, and why such a sudden u-turn by The Times?
The public (especially people like myself, who have school-age children) have a right to know about the case, and – more importantly – have a right to know the name of the individual involved, because somebody with such tendencies will most likely try to find himself another job / placement / whatever working with children.
We had one of those at our school when we were pre-teens; but he was always good for a giggle! We steered clear of him, of course, but ‘used’ him for extra trips to the loo, and goodness knows what perks we deemed necessary. We connived with him to have him send us out during his lessons to drink the left-over milk from recess. His predilection for pre-pubescent girls was made known through the school ‘grape-vine’.
Until the editors find themselves a backbone (and they will probably need to do this all on the same day with the same report) the Magistrates will continue to accept defence pleas for bans on publication. The law is clear – bans on publication should be for the protection of the victim and no-one else. It’s up to the Editors and no-one else – and they have to make a statement about it, or else their Court reporters will get it in the neck.
Andrew Borg Cardona – Maybe I didn’t explain myself well enough. I didn’t mean to imply that The Times should have divulged the names (of the teacher and of the school) themselves; I understand the way the law works in that respect.
I just find it a cause for concern that such bans happen repeatedly, even where divulging the name of the perverted perpetrator would not give away the identity of the victims.
As one would expect – and I say this at the risk of sounding too much of a feminist here – the magistrate in question was a man. What makes it even more shocking to me is that he himself is the father of a least one young child. (Maybe the fact the he himself knows the name of the perpetrator makes him feel that his child/ren are safe, who knows?) Whatever the reason for the ban, it is time that magistrates re-think the way things are done, or that the law is changed, whichever is necessary.
I had more respect for the magistrate in question, whose name I have since confirmed, and cannot understand why he ordered such ban. I simply hope that it was a valid reason, and not one as ridiculous as protecting the school’s current / future business.
Strangely, though, in the print edition of todays times, this other pervert (alleged, so far) got no such protection. Why the inconsistency?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080422/local/charged-with-defiling-girl-aged-six
Phaedra Giuliani – Yes, there are all sorts. Rumour has it that in the ’80s, a female teacher was sacked for having a romp with one of her 13-year-old female pupils, who was known to have a crush on the teacher in question. Roll on a few years, and the same teacher is back at the school, though teaching a different subject…
PLEASE NOTE THAT I would like to withdraw any references in my previous comments to the name of, and any other personal references to, the magistrate in question, since The Times may have originally reported such name incorrectly, seeing that http://www.Maltastar.com are now reporting that the name of the magistrate in question was Silvio Meli.
Thought the possible/proable mix-up in the name of the magistrate could be the case for The Times’ adjustment and subsequent removal of the law report from their online publication, my comments regarding the ban itself still stand.
@I agree with you completely, Andrew. Thisis a situation in which the editors would not be in violation of the law, and still they don’t do anything. At least we’re done with that old chestnut of not allowing discussion on court cases which are underway, using the excuse of ‘sub judice’. I remember refusing to accept that the media couldn’t possibly be prevented from commenting on court cases unless there was a specific ban on a particular case by the judge/magistrate, and going to look up the law because my various editors hadn’t bothered to do so themselves, choosing to go with ‘tradition’ instead. If it were up to me, I would be willing even to challenge the validity of certain laws by defying them – like the law which says that you can’t discuss politics the day before the country goes to the polls. And those with Internet news/discussion sites, instead of waving two fingers in the face of this farcical law (because with Internet, you can, the law not having envisaged it), actually stopped blogging/discussing/posting, and The Times actually temporarily removed its on-line archive of political stories. Unbelievable – you might as well comb the country and rip up the newspapers of the previous few days.
It could also be the school creating pressure not to get bad publicity. Great. Save schools from bankruptcy and never mind our kids.
This is an interesting case. “A raunchy 45 year old teacher in a ”snobby” school molested her 17 year old ‘pupil’ and guess what, the school hushed it up and she was politely asked to get another job.”
So we have, on one side inept magistrates, and on the other,
gutless school-boards!
Name and shame says I.
This is the Maltastar article in question:
http://maltastar.com/pages/msrv/msFullArt.asp?an=20560
Here’s an extract of the Maltastar report:
“The Court, presided by Magistrate Silvio Meli, handed a two-year jail term suspended for four years and ordered that the man from Balzan is disqualified from being given a TEACHER’S WARRANT.” (That still doesn’t prevent him from teaching religion at MUSEUM, of giving private lessons, of being a football coach, drama coach, summer school teacher/assistant – most of whom are usually not qualified teachers, let alone licensed ones – etc. You get the gist.)
“The man had sent various SMSs and chats asking two students of 13 and 14 years for sex.” (No comment necessary here.)
“Prosecuting Inspector Louise Calleja said that it was the teacher who used to send these types of sexual allusions via SMS and the children did not respond in the same manner.” (No comment necessary here either.)
“Dr JG, who is defending the Religion teacher, said that the crime was done by means of chatting and text messages, but there was no physical abuse on the minors.” (Oh really! One question for Dr G: If – allahares qatt – one of the his young children’s teachers were to do the same to his children, then would he try use the same line of defence? I doubt it.)
“Dr G said also that his client does not work in the same secondary school anymore after his teacher’s warrant was not renewed recently” (The fact that he no longer works at the school should not mean a lesser sentence; it should simply make it easier for the court NOT to ban the name of the man and that of the school. As I said previously, the pervert could still find himself some other placing / post (especially if such post is a voluntary one) where there are children. It is a known fact that such brazen people are usually repeat offenders.)
MikeC – You’re right. That one escaped most of us!
Reading it proves the point I tried to make to Andrew Borg Cardona, that the magistrate banning the name was a man. The magistrate who did not bother banning publication of the name of the pervert in question (in the case reported in today’s printed version of The Times) was a woman. At risk of sounding feminist, yes, the sex of the magistrates in question does tend to influence their way of seeing things, or maybe their lack of foresight in doing so.
Tony Pace – Yes, I do agree that since it is a private school (as opposed to a church school), it would probably mean that pressure is put on the courts for a ban on the publication of their name, and/or on the name of the teacher (so as not to identify the school).
Given the fact that the teacher’s warrant ‘was not renewed recently’ (how recently, given that the incidents were ‘a few weeks ago’, and that school normally runs from September – June?) makes it all the more reason for the name of such teacher (and school) to be published.
Personally, and many may not agree with me here, I think that until found guilty (of whatever crime) nobody’s name should be published because being Malta that person’s name would be tarnished forever even if found innocent. This applies especially in such serious crimes like this.
Once found guilty (like this pervert) then of course the name should be published and how! I would even have it printed on ID cards and passports.
The only other instance I believe in banning publication of names is in the matter of juvenile offenders.
[Moderator – The publication of the details of trials is an important part of the system of checks and balances in any democracy.]
Ma noqoghdux nistaghgbu b’dal-kaz. Il-fatti nafuhom ben tajjeb. L-istejjer min-nies fit-toroq, mill-hbieb adulti taghna u mill-kollegi fuq il-postijiet tax-xoghol fuq l-abbuzi sesswali li saru fuqhom meta kienu tfal nisimghuhom il-hin kollu. Milli nisma’ ghandi l-impressjoni li hawn pedofli gmielhom – iva, iva, anki f’Malta. U ma noqoghdux induru mal-lewza – l-access ghac-crieki tal-pedofilja nafu bih! U kemm jezistu sajts tal-pedofilja fuq l-Internet nafuh ukoll! U bosta minnhom huma facilment accessibbli … mhux ghall-perversi biss, imma ghal uliedna zhar u ghal kulhadd. Ma tridx xi kodici sigrieta jew xi gherf biex issib das-sajts! Naf ben tajjeb x’qed nghid! Il-pervers jista’ jiddawnlowdja stampi li jqanqluh ghat-tfal kemm irid u kemm joghgbu, jista’ jikkomunika ma’ shabu u ghandu materjal bizzejjed mhux biex jixhet ftit hatab iehor fin-nar … imma biex iqabbad huggiega! Il-pornografija tat-tfal fuq l-Internet saret xejn mhu xejn; qed tigi popolarizzata u gglamorizzata b’rata mghaggla! Oqoghdu b’seba’ ghajnejn jekk qed thallu z-zghar wehidhom quddiem l-Internet! Naccertakom: mhumiex safe. U l-pedoflu mhuwiex xi cuc, ara tahsbu, jaf kif ghandu jonsob lil uliedna, in-nases tieghu ma xxommhomx kif gieb u lahaq u qed jaghmel uzu tajjeb mill-mezzi sofistikati teknologici ta’ zmienna!
Praise God li jezistu dat-tip ta’ blogs … Huwa wahdu jaf kemm jigu ccensurati opinjonijiet ta’ genituri inkwetati li jaghzlu li jfissru hsushom fuq das-suggett sensittiv fil-gazetti lokali! L-edituri jghidulek: heqq, ghax nallarmaw in-nies! Imma l-fatti huma fatti f’gieh il-Hniena t’Alla!
Apart from being a pervert, he must be mentally deficient to risk sending sms`s where the proof is recorded.
Justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done.
That is a maxim.
good article dap and find myself in total agreement with you. Sending a child to school means sending him or her to learn and not to be harassed in any way especially by a person in authority who pupils may be looking up to.
If i am not mistaken a warrant is given round about novemeber and is given to those who have a degree in education. in this case the warrant doesn’t need to renewed. So, i think that the person involved was not a graduate in education and shouldn’t have held a similar post in the first place. so i ask: this incident happened in a private school right? where parents pay a lot and a lot of money. so may i ask why are such private schools employing non-graduate teachers when they have a choice of graduates out of work if that was the case here? maybe because they cost less?
I am sorry but when i go to a doctor or a lawyer i expect them to be fully qualified in their work so why is the teaching profession taken so lightly.
I tend to agree with David Buttigieg that until found guilty a person’s name should not be published. A person’s reputation can be easily tarnished by a false accusation….
[Moderator – That is why the prosecution needs prima facie evidence to arraign someone.]
David Zammit – Lest you are implying otherwise, this man WAS found guilty, and even admitted to the charges. Why the ban on the publication of his name?
According to the court report on today’s online version of The Times (which is worded totally differently from that which appeared – and disappeared – yestereday), the ban on the publication of his name is to protect the identity of the students. This time, no mention is made of what type of school (church, government or private) this is, which proves all the more that the school was a private one, and pressure on the ban of the name must have been made by the school’s owners. If that is the case, then it is extremely shocking, putting their business ahead of the welfare of the students entrusted to their care.
This time, The Times’ report also states that the magistrate (still reported as being Anthony Vella according to The Times, whilst Maltastar are reporting his name as Silvio Meli) order the pervert to “keep away from school and other institutions attended by children”. That still leaves him free to prey on his own children (if he has any, or should he eventually have any with somebody unaware of his past), with young relatives or children of friends and acquaintances; it also does not stop him from giving private lessons (“ragel tajjeb, kien jghallem ir-religjon …”), the list is endless.
What makes matters worse is that the court ruling is not a deterrent for other such perverts, knowing that they can almost count on not having their name made public.
@ Amanda Mallia
I was speaking prior to him being found guilty – what happens after is another issue.
@Amanda Mallia
Rest assured that if such people where first stoned in the village square and then hung, drawn and quartered there would still be people committing such crimes. Its a psychological issue – paedophilia.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the actual school asked the court not to publish all the names. And in a way it is understandable keeping in mind how the pupils at the school can be adversely affected if it is made public that a former teacher committed such acts. As such since this teacher has been removed the school in itself now does not constitute any more of a danger to the pupils.
On the other hand it is debatable whether the teacher himself should be mentioned – I see no reason why not in fact since he has been found guilty…
On a similar note, The Times today reported that the nuns implicated in the Lourdes Home case are to “move out”.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080423/local/implicated-sisters-to-move-out
Let us hope that they do not end up working with the elderly, who could be just as vulnerable as children, if not more.
Some n
No one beats our Daphne
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3797745.ece
First of all let me STRESS that once found guilty all criminals especially such perverts should be named and shamed!
@Moderator
I agree with you details should not be hidden and if necessary anyone should have access to details but perhaps in sensitive cases like this the name should not be published to all and sundry UNTIL found guilty. There were cases of some people being found innocent.
Also I believe that in all cases minors’ names should continue to be withheld. Minors have a lot more chance of becoming responsible adults, no matter how obnoxious some of them may seem.
@ Carmel Scicluna
‘Ma noqoghdux nistaghgbu b’dal-kaz. Il-fatti nafuhom ben tajjeb’
U kif… nafuhomx! Imma daz-zmien qeghdin nitkellmu fuqhom bil-miftuh. Dari kien ikollok jew iggerrahhom inti stess personalment jew inkella tisma’ minghand tfal bhalek. Fil- hamsinijiet u s-sittinijiet meta kont nitrabba jien kellna ftit nies mhux hazin minn dan it tip jigru mas-saqajn. (Ma konniex bhat-tfal tal-lum li ma jmorru mkien minghajr il-mama’ imma konna nigru fit-toroq nilaghbu).
Tal-pitrolju, jhajjar lit-tfal biex imorru mieghu fuq il-karrettun. Kien iweghdna tmintax irbieghi, niftakar. Konna nitilghu, iva, nitolbuh itina l-flus qabel u hekk kif itiehielna naqbzu nigru l-isfel daqs ghefiered ‘l hemm. Tabib li kien jghidlek tinza’ kollox anke jekk biss weggghajt sebghek, pulizija, li kien japprofitta mill-uniformi li jilbes u jipprova jiehu xi tifla wara xi hajt u nista’ nkompli nsemmilek … u kollha fl-istess kommunita’, tafx!
Pero’, umilment nghid, li t-tfal tampari gradwaw mill-universita’ tal-hajja minghajr ma kellna ebda trawma. Anzi, illum meta xi kultant niltaqghu u naqbdu fuq l-antik nibdew nidhku kemm nifilhu!
Illum, qabel tibda tghallem, tintalab ic-cetifikat tal- kondotta. Haga tajba li meta wiehed ikollu l-kondotta ‘mahmuga’ ma jigix accettat minn min se jhaddmu/jhaddimha u b’hekk jigu evitati kuntatti ma’ tfal taht l-eta’ li mhumiex xierqa.
[Moderator – This comment was submitted a few hours ago but was held in moderation while the person’s identity was being confirmed. The time of publication is 15:10.]
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:43:32 -0700
Are you sick and tired of reading about people who abuse
children, who get let off with a sentence that is nothing but laughable?
2 years prison sentence suspended for 4 years, not being named to ‘protect
the child’s identity’
How can you be sure that you don’t have a sick pervert
teaching your kids, taking them on outings, or giving them private
lessons. We need to protect our children and call for stricter/harsher
sentences for these disgusting people.
We have all heard of many stories where a teacher has
abused a child at school, is then fired – without any given reason, and
then moves to another school where he will continue his sick fetishes
with other innocent children.
THIS CANNOT CONTINUE.
This e-mail is based around the latest case. a 37 year
old male former religion teacher was found guilty of sending sexual sms’s
and e-mails to former school children. What the media forgot to mention
is that the teacher was sending these messages to 8-10 year old boys, and
adding them on chat programs and stripping for them over webcam!!! They
also forgot to mention that this individual advertises ‘Weather lessons
for Children’ on his website, and teaches Muzew.
You can even go on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1035904257&hiq=gera%2Cmark%2Cvella)
and see how he has 5-6 young kids. The police found more than 1200 children
on his myspace and hi5 accounts.
I will now name and shame this individual, and ask that
you pass this e-mail onto everyone that you know, so that we can name and
shame these perverts.
Get ready Mark Vella Gera. We know who you are, and through
this e-mail, so will the rest of Malta.
Name – Mark Vella Gera
DOB – June 7th 1970
Personal Websites – http://www.maltaweather.com
Photos – See attached.
The Times story is back on line, with minor changes.
Three cheers for Daphne for this post – and a set of boos for the Times, but more importantly, for the judiciary. A magistrate weighs up various interests in reaching his decision, but this line of thought of ‘covering up’ for the bad guys is quite simply a disservice to the security of society at large.
Another judicial-reporting gripe while we’re at it: why are also subjected to an amazing degree of arbitrariness when being told who appeared for whom? It seems to me that a numbe rof lawyers get mentioned when they land good judgements but are conveniently forgotten by the Times when their clients land themselves bad ones. Others simply never feature.
[Moderator – That’s another check on the personal relationship between the defence and the judge or magistrate.]
Paedophilia, molestation whatever……….if one is found guilty the only way to protect society from these people is to name and shame them. (Unless it could cause harm to the victim, that is). Most times though the grapevine works wonders, and this is one case where if factual, not mere gossip, it should be encouraged and ”criminals” ostracised. Boycotts do work !!
The Commissioner for Children should push for a Sex Offenders Register
In the Malta government portal – gov.mt – sentenzi on line -which is updated daily, the sentence regarding this teacher is left out. Is this normal? I remember having read the sentence regarding the Pandolfino brothers on line, with the names of the victims omitted.
[Moderator – This is beyond ridiculous, so I’m just going to go out and say it: an email is going around that claims to identify the convicted teacher, a certain Mark Vella Gera who taught at St Michael’s School and runs maltaweather.com, a website that was online until a few days ago.]
@ Mod & Daphne
Thank you for the service you have rendered to society – especially to parents and their children, by outing the convicted teacher.
Unless society protects the vulnerable it has no right to call itself civilised.
Was the publication of the name banned because he used to teach in a Catholic Church School?
What about those female teachers,especially those teaching teenage boys,who go to school dressed for a night out rather than to teach? I guess the students’ parents think they’re sending their sons to learn the subjects which are offered at the school.What fourteen year old would pay attention to a Maths(or whatever subject)lesson rather than his teacher’s boobs or the colour of her tanga.Could it be that some teachers feel gratified on having so many fans among the boys? Wouldn’t this be classified also as child abuse?
[Moderator – Don’t be ridiculous, underwear on show is a lack common decency, not abuse. A teacher who persisted in having his or her underwear on show would probably be told to stop behaving like a 12-year-old. Maybe you’d rather all female teachers wore a burqa to work.]
Maltaweather is still on line I saw it a couple of hours ago. If you google his name, he has about a dozen mentions
Helpful tip for everybody’s sake. The original Times article can be seen by using Google in the following manner:
1) Search for ‘Teacher sexual connotations’.
2) When you see the list of found items, look for the Times article, but then, do not clicked on the article itself, but click on ‘Cached’
3) Lo and behold, you’ll see the original Times article in all its glory
[Moderator – Here is the direct link to the cached copy.]
You see, I thought I knew it all, but you always know better
@Certain teachers will be the object of their charges’ burgeoning hormone-driven attentions, unless they really look like the back-end of a bus. It’s up to them not to take advantage of the situation. But 10-year-old boys?
maltaweather is still online and interesting to go to the photos section
Mario Debono – Well done for naming the pervert. Meanwhile, you said that he teaches at Muzew. Did you mean at the St Julian’s one? His face is extremely familiar, and I’m not sure where I’ve seen him.
@Robert P Galea
Went to the photos section and couldn’t find anything more interesting than snow… so what’s interesting about that?
If you found some juicy titbits please copy and paste the direct links.
@amanda mallia – you missed my point completely. next time, try to read what was written and not jump to conclusions.
@amrio
all i meant by interesting was the fact that one could place a face to the name……..nothing more than that
Andrew Borg Cardona – OK, re-read and point taken. Apologies.
@amanda mallia – all is forgiven…. actually, this subject is very sensitive so I should have been less snappy with you…
@ Moderator. I have no problems in speaking out. I am Mario Debono, ID 385366 , Mobile number 99494405. I stand by what I said. If you need to confirm my identity or what i have written, call me. Otherwise i dont see how you could have confirmed my identity. I’m large enough as it is, too difficult to miss.
[Moderator – I’m sorry, my wording was a bit clumsy. What I meant was that I was confirming that it really was Mark Vella Gera who was convicted.]
Re my previous comment about the Malta government portal, please note that Pulizija vs Mark Vella Gera has now been added. However when you click to read the sentence it says “The page you are trying to access is not available”.
Andrew Borg Cardona – It’s OK. I tend to ignore the tone of comments like that :)
Mario Debono – You forgot to put the nick-name by which everyone knows you :)
about the fact that the sentence is not on the web-site, it sometimes happens in “normal” cases too – check back later it might come up
Take a look at this:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080423/local/cyberspace-rules
Thanks ABC. Just checked gov. website. The sentence is now online. Three cheers to whoever decided to put it online!
Louise Vella / Andrew Borg Cardona – I tried to view the sentence yesterday on http://www.gov.mt, but all I managed to find was the reference “Il-Pulizija vs Mark Vella Gera” on 22.04.08. On clicking on it, the file was inaccessible.
I have tried to access it again just now, and any reference to it – including the heading – has since been removed.
To me it simpoly looks like a massive cover-up operation (What with first the banning of his name, then The Times’ “vanishing” article, now with the “vanishing” sentence on the government website.) The whole thing stinks.
This is so confusing! It was there in the morning and now it has vanished. Yes, the whole thing really stinks.
Louise Vella – Maybe Andrew Borg Cardona could shed some (legal) light on this one?
This is an appeal to anyone (including several people who have posted comments on this blog) who knows about any of Mark Vella Gera’s immoral “activities”, past or present, however small or irrelevant they may seem, to get in touch with the Vice Squad (telephone number 112).
Also, if you know about any other victims or places / internet sites/domains from where such activities where carried out, it is important to forward such information to the Vice Squad.
This appeal is not being made by the police, but I know that they would welcome the information. The more information they have, the safer it is for our children.
Thank you.