There are two quite important points the “journalist” missed out.

1. Was this a one-off occurrence, or habitual?
2. How late was he?

I’m not sure why this even reached the press, it seems that unless this was a re-occurring annoyance this magistrate had to face – something which I doubt – this could have stopped in the courtroom.

From above news item :

“Supt. Zammit said that Mr Bone was being held at the Mount Carmel Forensic Unit and he had been taken to court from there. However, a car had broken down on the way resulting in traffic on the road.

At this point the magistrate said: “I don’t believe you”.

Supt. Zammit pointed out that he was testifying under oath.

And Magistrate Meli quipped that he was also under oath and he did not believe Supt. Zammit.”

So will Supt. Zammit be arraigned for perjury?

[Daphne – I think somebody should arraign the magistrate, quite frankly. His behaviour is repeatedly abominable, and none of those lawyers have the balls to get together and do something about it. They all let him treat them like sitting ducks, and nobody stands up to him. Superintendent Zammit should write immediately to the Commission for the Administration of Justice.]

Indeed, our prison is overcrowded and too costly. Hence, I think, the spate of suspended sentences and other non-imprisonment sentences.

You do not have to figure anything. You were simply royally treated by an individual who never had any manners to start with, and the bank that employed her forgot to instill any. I still remember when I joined a bank way back in 1960s (not BOV), which chose to ‘waste time’ for a whole week by trying to instill in us raw recruits one simple concept: the customer is always right. This bank also hammered into us the fact that the customer also pays our salary. Customer-care people, please note.

Bio_Land, if you are an expert in the subject, the floor is yours. However, I do not see any good coming out of generations of inter-village marriages. Obviously, my opinion could be mistaken.

I have never really understood this business. If he can’t pay how will Virtu get the money? I can’t imagine a bank lending him money to pay a fine or whatever it’s called.

Why go through the trouble of suing him when it is highly probable that even if the outcome is favourable they’ll have nothing to show for it?

The grin might disappear if – and when – he is sued by Virtu Ferries for damages.

There were no customers when I went in, so ‘good’ I thought, until I got to the counter. The teller was not in her seat, she was standing, her back to me, doing whatever she had to. I expected, at least, that she would turn to face me and and acknowledge my presence. Instead, she half turned, SAW the cheque in my hands ( so she understood what I had gone there for), asked in a most rude tone ” X`ghandek bzonn?”, and when I replied, she scolded me with “Ma nsarrfux cekkijiet wara nofs in-nhar”, all this while standing and barely looking at me, THE CUSTOMER.

But what baffled me was that when I went to the next branch, just 10 minutes away, to make sure that it was not just that ill-mannered idiot who was refusing to cash the cheque (it was a Friday, so the banks are open till after 4pm), and this cashier greeted me with a smile and cashed the cheque as if it was the most normal thing to do. Go figure!

Please do not speak about subjects that you most probably have never delved in. The Maltese gene pool is infact very diverse and we are far from being homogenous.

http://public.di-ve.com/streaming/on_demand_media_streamer.aspx?id=4580&encoding=8&backUrl=streaming/on_demand_event_encoding.aspx%3fid%3d4580