Robert and Consuelo: using the police as their servants and their own personal Stasi
Watch out, because my bedmate has contacts with the police.
If you think the last couple of months gave us the only incidences of the paranoid, arrogant and delusional duo behaving as though the police are their personal servants, you are mistaken.
Back in the summer, we had Musumeci (dak tal-magistrat u mhux dak tal-picnic cooler) setting the police on Astrid Vella for writing about him.
Now there appears to be a pact of silence between them on the basis of the enemy of their enemy being their friend.
And in January last year, he set the police on a man who took a photograph of him in a car park. And the police, behaving as though they are Consuelo’s and Robert’s bidilli, actually tracked the man down and took him in for questioning.
Now imagine if you or I were to do the same thing, ring the police station and report that a man took a photograph of us in a car park. We would be told to go and stuff ourselves, probably by somebody eating a sandwich at the other end of the line.
The Sunday Times – 11 January last year
A photographer was taken to a police station for questioning after taking a picture of former Siggiewi mayor Robert Musumeci talking to a Malta Environment and Planning Authority board member in a car park.
Graham Cooper, a British national who is a former press photographer, attended a Mepa board hearing to object to the demolition of a building next to his Floriana home.
According to Mr Graham and other witnesses, Mr Musumeci, an architect, entered the room to speak to the developers’ architects while the permit application was being discussed.
After the meeting, he was then seen talking to Claude Borg, one of the board members deciding on the application, in the authority’s car park. Mr Cooper said he instinctively took a photo of the two men with the camera that he always carries with him.
Although the photo only shows the two men standing in the car park facing the camera, the police turned up at Mr Cooper’s home the following day to follow up a complaint. He said he was asked to bring his camera with him and was driven to the police station in Valletta to be interviewed.
The complaint had been filed by Mr Musumeci, who felt he was harassed by the fact that Mr Cooper was taking pictures of him and the board member.
When contacted, Mr Musumeci said he felt his privacy was being invaded because a stranger was taking photos of him for no reason.
“He was in my face, invading my territory. I just asked the police to look into it and see why he was taking these photos. Basically I asked for protection from the State – this had nothing to do with data protection.”
He said that he was doing nothing secretive or unethical and challenged Mr Cooper to prove otherwise.
Mr Musumeci added that if the photographer had been a member of the press, he would have had no problem with the photo. But since he did not know who he was, he feared that he might have had malicious intent and therefore asked for the issue to be investigated.
Yet the police did not bring up harassment issues when explaining why they had taken Mr Cooper to the station. Instead, the inspector interviewing him brought up the Data Protection Act.
Mr Cooper was asked for the picture but it had already been downloaded onto a computer, so the inspector asked that the picture be deleted after it would have been sent to him via e-mail.
Mr Cooper insisted that he was in a public place and had broken no laws and sent the picture as requested after he was released, but did not delete it.
The police were asked to explain why they had picked up Mr Cooper, but no response was forthcoming by the time this paper went to print.
Lawyers who spoke to The Sunday Times about the case agreed that Mr Cooper should not have been asked to delete the picture.
They said that since the two were in a public place, and since the photo was not incriminating, the police should never have got involved.
One of the lawyers said: “It cannot be a crime for someone to take a photo in a public place. That means that every time you take a photo of a landscape or a building, you might be committing a crime because there might be someone who doesn’t want to be photographed. It’s absurd.”
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You are perfectly right on this – except in dragging CSH into it?
How? (I don’t have to ask why).
[Daphne – Who do you think bossed him into it and told him what to do and who to call, Twanny – his lawyer or his magistrate? In the last six weeks, she’s set the police onto me THREE TIMES.]
Pure speculation.
Twanny, are you so stupid? You must be wearing some kind of intellectual blinkers. Your comments have just one positive outcome; you are proving to me that I have increased valid reasons why I should not trust PL, and that people like you are a nasty aberration for the good of the country.
@ Twanny – speculation or probability? More of the latter – so it seems that Robert Musumeci felt threatened for reasons known only to him, panicked and called on big mama for advice!
I would say that it’s speculation based on an intimate familiarity with the magistrate’s dictatorial personality, and on the master-slave nature of her relationship with her very wet, very indecisive and very much younger lover, Twanny. You seem to know neither of them.
Twanny, jekk tara kelb, u hdejh tara kakka gholja zewg pulzieri, tispekula tghid faqqasha hu. Izda ma’ tkunx spekulazzjoni azzardata.
ok?
I repeat – failing some indication to the contrary – and I have not seen it yet – saying that Musumeci was instigated to do this by CSH is pure speculation.
It reminds me of the way some people make it a point to always mention divorce and abortion in the same breath – to make bloody sure they are associated with each other in people’s minds. Same logic.
[Daphne – No, not at all. Consuelo and Robert are bed-partners. Divorce and abortion are not. Please explain why you have taken it upon yourself to defend the activities of Magistrate Herrera and her lover the controversial architect. One year ago, you were bawling against the rape of Bahrija on other comments-boards beneath other names. Now suddenly, Robert Musumeci is your hero because he lives with the sister of a Labour MP. He lived with her last year, too, you know.]
Diska stunata, Ċali. Ibdilha.
There was another one doing a “Twanny”. He goes by the name of James Tyrell. One year down the road, he’s sprung to the defence of the same Robert. Ah well, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, as they say:
“Why was photographer taken to police station for questioning?
James A. Tyrrell, N. Ireland
I have read the story about the photographer Graham Cooper who was taken to a police station for questioning after taking a photograph of Siggiewi mayor Robert Musumeci talking to a Malta Environment and Planning Authority board member in a car park (The Sunday Times, January 4, 2009). Has Malta now become a police state?
There is more to this than meets the eye. Surely, a public figure like Mr Musumeci does not need police protection every time a photo is taken of him.
So what was Mr Musumeci’s reason for getting the police to take Mr Cooper to the police station and have the photo he took confiscated?
In Mr Musumeci’s own words, “He was in my face, invading my territory.” “I asked for protection from the State.” Protection from what? One guy with a camera?
The fact that Mr Musumeci reacted in this way may give the impression that he has something to hide.
Is it considered usual and ethical in Malta for architects to consult with members of boards that have just adjudicated cases they were involved in?
This is like a judge walking off his podium and consulting in the law courts with one of the lawyers of the case, something that is (hopefully) unthinkable. Even if they were not discussing the case, it is a case of “Justice has to be done and has to be seen to be done”.
The story also reflects poorly on the Mepa board member. A search through the Mepa website shows only one Floriana case last week, towards the beginning of the session.
Are we to understand that the board member abandoned the hearing of other cases in order to talk to Mr Musumeci?”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090118/letters/why-was-photographer-taken-to-police-station-for-questioning
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090125/letters/mepas-ethics-are-confused
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090204/local/ex-mayor-sues-for-libel
Grezz, I liked Astrid’s comments to The Times article of 25 Jan 2009 as per your link above. Seems she had some problems with architects like Robert Musumeci back then.
Who me? Defend CSH and Musumeci? Where on earth did you get that bizarre idea?
Are you slipping int the “min mhux magħna, kontra tagħna” mind-set?
[Daphne – Bizarre? Go on then, tell us what you think of them. This saga has been going on for two months, you’re glued to this blog, and we still don’t know. I think you’re torn: they disgust you, you disapprove, but you’re damned if you’re going to say so.]
@FAA-R OUT – Bingo! Alas, the enemy of the enemy is my friend, as they say.
He asked for protection by the state, he said, because a strange man took a photograph of him in a car park.
What did he think the strange man was going to do – Photoshop his head to a porn model’s body and send the results to meat.com?
If Musumeci reacted that way to a simple photograph being taken, I wonder what he would have done were he in Daphne’s shoes or her sisters’ – faced with a One News camera following them round the streets of Valletta.
Daphne did you run to the police for protection from One News like our petulant Musumeci?
Th police like confiscating photos, like they did during the Croatia match riots at the stadium and these were photos taken by professional journalists. In this case the photos were confiscated to destroy photographic evidence of police inefficiency and incompetence.
Why does police commissioner Rizzo allow his subordinates to investigate such matters? If Musumeci reported such a case in the UK, he would have probably been charged with wasting police time and making a malicious report.
This is interesting and it goes to show what a sorry state we are in. So the police quickly spring to action when Musumeci is photographed, whilst according to Malta Today on Sunday 21st March, “Yesterday, Caruana Galizia criticised President George Abela for announcing that the Commission for the Administration of Justice would not be investigating any of her allegations about Scerri Herrera.”
One may not agree with Daphne’s political views, and maybe one might question some of her colourful comments, however it remains a fact that there is a member of the judiciary who openly wines and dines with people over whom she will preside in court.
Seriously, are we so blinded by partisan politics that we take sides simply according to who tells the story? How can Malta Today find nothing wrong with the above yet in the same article state: “Questions sent this week by Malta Today to PBS on whether it would allow Bondiplus to discuss a subject while criminal charges against Caruana Galizia were pending”?
Everyone has an agenda, be it Malta Today, Times of Malta, Charlon, Astrid, Fr. Peter and even Daphne and their motives may be subjective but are we the Maltese living on this island incapable of seeing beyond these people’s agendas? Are those who have no strings to pull comfortable with the idea that maybe one day this magistrate will preside over their court case, if all the questions which Daphne has asked remain unanswered?
And if Consuelo Scerri Herrera can get away with it, what else that we don’t know about because they have not crossed Daphne has happened?
I believe that irrespective of Daphne and CSH, this has to go beyond the code of ethics of the judiciary, and these people not having Facebook accounts, as the editor of the Sunday Times finally said, the judiciary’s credibility is at stake.
I’m afraid we can only say mea culpa if Joe Public does not seize this opportunity and not see beyond partisan politics and demand answers.
I would love to see an edition of Xarabank or BondiPlus dicussing whether members of the judiciary should wine and dine with people for whom they now they have to dish out a verdict in a few weeks time?
Or perhaps challenge the competence of a policeman who seems to be unaware when summons should be delivered at someone’s house, and while we are at it a magistrate who takes an oath that she received drinks from the head of the vice squad? How can you believe that a judge would make such a mistake, especially when the policeman who actually offered the drink was someone appearing before the magistrate charged with a serious offence?
If for argument’s sake we chose to believe that the mistake was bona fide, does Joe Public really want a magistrate to preside over his case when she makes such important mistakes, bona fide or not in such an important trial?
This is what is at stake, this is the issue, and whether you agree or not with Daphne, these are the questions we all should be seeking an answer to.
But perhaps I’m too naive.
Dan l-incident iffakarni wisq fl-ewwel darba li zort ir- Red Light District go Amsterdam u din il-bjondina li kienet qed turini l-agwat qaltli ‘Do not take any pictures of the prostitutes or they will call the police on you.’
Wara das-snin kollha, it’s DEJA VU all over again.
Xi hadd irid Mentos halli jnehhi t-toghma hazina minn halqu?
@ S.B
“whilst according to Malta Today on Sunday 21st March, “Yesterday, Caruana Galizia criticised President George Abela for announcing that the Commission for the Administration of Justice would not be investigating any of her allegations about Scerri Herrera.”
Actually that was Malta Today of 21 February.
Ever so much more that cannot be ignored has come to light since then, including perjuries in court.
And in fact, George Abela said nothing of the sort.
timesofmalta.com – 28 February
“The Commission never confirmed nor denied this as its deliberations are confidential. But recently, President George Abela, who presides over the Commission, said the claims made by Ms Caruana Galizia about the magistrate were noted.
He said: “The Commission took note (of the blogs). Then the Commission will see how it will act and is acting,” Dr Abela said.”
A far cry from MaltaTudej’s “… for announcing that the Commission for the Administration of Justice would not be investigating any of her allegations about Scerri Herrera”
I hope next week’s Commission meeting will be dedicated to nothing other than Consuelo Scerri Herrera and her antics.
When almost a year ago I phoned the Paola police station to report a similar act, the policeman on duty told me that no criminal offence was committed by someone taking photos of me in a public place. Although I was furious about that reply probably the officer was on the right side, but unfortunately I happened to be just an ordinary person who does not work in law courts or at the planning authority.
…or shagging a magistrate
Have the police nothing better to do than wait at the beck and call of her majesty? And the police commissioner has nothing to say about all this wasting of police time and taxpayers money! Mela din ghanda xi Easter egg kbira din, jew?
Not even if the commissioner of police himself orders me to delete anything from my computer will I obey him. He would be breaking the laws of our land. No one will tell me what to do with my work.
Il-hanqa ta’ hmar qatt ma waslet is-sema. Proverbju iehor ghalik, Segucc. Godi.
Il-Pulizija xi dritt kellhom jinvestigaw lil dan ir-ragel? Mela’ dan ghamel xi att kriminali billi ha ritrratt? Mela issa sirna ninvestigaw kull rapport li jsir hemm att kriminali jew m’hemmx? Vera morna l-bahar! Imma forsi dan kien xi hadd specjali.
Din il-persuna ghandha dritt tfittex lill-pulizija ghall-hin li tilfet biex tigi investigata dwar xi haga li kompletament mhix kriminali?
Xi hadd ghandu d-dritt jogezzjoni ghall-ispejjez ta’ dawn il-kapricci?
Nice one Daph, although it did take you some time to mention this case. I recall how surprised I was when reading the details of this incident…a few minutes of recollection and I had to pinch myself out of the “movie” we’re all forced to live through. That’s when the bits and pieces of the jigsaw fell into place.
Daphne, is the photo above the one taken by Mr. Cooper? If yes, hats off to this former press photographer. To me it looks like it’s taken from the movie poster of Men in Black or something (with apologies to T.L. Jones and W. Smith).
[Daphne – Yes, that’s the picture.]