The magistrate, the magistrate's lover, the lover's brother, his wife, the Melita Cable kaxxa and the picnic cooler

Published: February 12, 2010 at 11:51pm
The Musumeci picnic cooler - can carry the most unexpected objects at the most inconvenient times

The Musumeci picnic cooler - can carry the most unexpected objects at the most inconvenient times

Mela gejja fl-ahhar l-istorja tal-picnic cooler ta’ Musumeci.

Gather round.

So Robert Musumeci’s brother rings Melita Cable because he has a problem with his internet connection.

The Melita boys turn up.

Because there’s a lot of cable television theft (people tampering with the boxes to bypass whatever and receive unlimited number of channels while paying for the minimum), they have standard instructions to check the cable connection box every time they go out on a call even for internet or telephony.

Robert Musumeci’s brother isn’t there when they call, but his wife is.

They sort out the internet, then they check the cable television connection box.

They find it’s been tampered with and that the Musumeci household is receiving 90+ channels while paying the minimum subscription.

They ring head office, then they call the police. They inform Mrs Musumeci that the police are on their way, and they make the mistake – by their own admission in court – of waiting outside the house.

Well, quite frankly, it’s not like they had a choice. She could have thrown them out. It’s not like you can insist on staying in somebody’s private house when they ask you to leave. Then it could be their turn to ring the police. But anyway.

While they’re waiting outside in their van for the police to come round, they see Mrs Musumeci emerge with a picnic cooler, apparently on a trip to the beach.

A light-bulb goes off in their heads, but of course, by then it’s too late.

Eventually the police arrive and the television is checked. The tampered connection box has disappeared.

The police interrogate Robert Musumeci’s brother. He says that he has no account with Melita Cable. (The police later summon as witnesses various officials of Melita Cable, who confirm that yes, he did have an account).

Because the people from Melita Cable swore that the connection box was tampered with, and that this is why they rang the police – why would they bother, otherwise? – the police prosecuted Robert Musumeci’s brother after interrogating him.

The case came before Magistrate Herrera, who was in a clandestine affair with Robert Musumeci but still living with her spouse, just as he was living with his.

Various witnesses were produced, statements and counter-statements made, and Robert Musumeci’s brother was acquitted. The police did not appeal.

The judgement is stiff with quotations from case law, which seems rather over the top for the simple theft of cable television service. You would think we were dealing with a murder here.

But then the magistrate in question was probably just being thorough. It would be wrong to say that she had an eye to future revelations.




19 Comments Comment

  1. Tony Pace says:

    Jesus Almighty, who’s going to protect us from this Mafia. Minister Mifsud Bonnici, as much as I like you, please do not procrastinate, the ball is in your court. No better time than now to give these buggers what they deserve.

  2. never ending saga says:

    On the far right I see Lydia Abela, il-wicc gdid fuq it-tim tal-Lejber.

    Now hear her (have patience she speaks towards the end)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icQQHLhOeRI

  3. Tony Pace says:

    Whoa, there!
    Libel, did you say libel? Don’t you know that when you have actual proof of anything you have said, written or implied, it is not considered libellous?

  4. Tim Ripard says:

    Isn’t it high time to get our MPs to impeach this woman? I’d like to see how anyone in his right mind could vote against.
    Anyone who does will be declaring himself a supporter of sleaze.

  5. Albert Farrugia says:

    @never ending saga
    OK, I heard her speak…so?

    • Isard du Pont says:

      Albert, not being from ‘il-mittilkless’ (quoting Lydia Abela), you wouldn’t have a clue why we think it’s creepy-funny.

      Oh sorry, by ‘mittilkless’ she means everyone who’s earning more than EUR15,000 a year and drives a car less than five years old.

      • H. P. Baxxter says:

        P.S. Isard du Pont, jien kont iltqajt mieghek fin-1986 jew xi haga hekk. Kont retired dak iz-zmien, imma kelli T shirt tieghek. Ghalija tibqa’ Di Kink.

      • never ending saga says:

        Isard du Pont, thank you.

      • Mario De Bono says:

        Qlajtuh mil-mewt dan iz-ziemel mitiku. Imma jien kelli wiehed tajjeb daqshu. Kyot Speed. Tiftakru Baxxter?

      • H. P. Baxxter says:

        Ma nafx, jien kien hadni n-nannu ghax kien buddy tal-owner ta’ Isard du Pont, post-retirement. Kont zghir u ma niftakarx sewwa d-dettalji, imma naf li xi hadd tani T-shirt. Kien ultra-cool, u issa li qed tghidli, forsi naghmel replica u nuzah bhala 80s revival clubwear.

  6. H. P. Baxxter says:

    Stenna, x’kien hemm fil-picnic cooler? Everything else was a decoy.

  7. David Buttigieg says:

    Well, for argument’s sake, IF I were a subscriber with whoever, and IF I was dumb enough to tamper with the box, then I wouldn’t have let anybody from Melita see it!.

    They can’t oblige me to let them in any part of the house can they, assuming the decoder was NOT near the internet modem!

    I agree with Melita for prosecuting but I can’t believe how dumb some people can be.

  8. Stephen Forster says:

    It was the woman with the picnic cooler on the grassy knoll….Quick Watson the game’s afoot!

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