Nanna you will never be forgotten and your name and what you stood for will always be remembered!

Miss you each day and will always remember you in our prayers in our thoughts and all!

Claudia Pecorella

Yes, I also feel we are living in a third world country seeing the poor conditions farm animals and even pets are sometimes kept in and yes, I also voiced my protest in the past whenever animals were mistreated.

But to keep quiet over such a scandalous judgement given by such an experienced magistrate, who seems to have forgotten what the Criminal Code actually states…one wonders where we are heading to.

My mother was in the safety of her home preparing lunch for her brother and for my eldest brother Joe, who happened to be living there at the time. In spite of what the contractors said, they were only advised to move out a few minutes before the actual collapse of the house.

My brother had just enough time to walk in and tell my mother this when my uncle noticed some fine dust falling from the ceiling and rushed out. He only made it because he happened to be closer to the corridor leading to the doorway.

My mother had to walk around the table and a few seconds later, the dividing wall collapsed and brought down the two ceilings. My mother died a few hours later while my brother was still being given treatment for his wounds among which 20 sutures in his head alone.

The architect was also prosecuted but he walked away free. He had actually seen the danger a day earlier when he inspected the excavation work and noticed that the contractors had shaved the ground up to the party wall, exposing the foundations, and had even dug deeper than what the MEPA permit had authorized (seven courses instead of three).

This architect said in court that he had ordered the contractor to put down a concrete structure or to at least place some concrete blocks against the dividing wall because he was alarmed by what he had seen.

Does ordering the contractors to do this exonerate him from his responsibilties? Would this have happened if he had warned my mother of the danger when he noticed it the day before the house collapsed?

Does the magistrate think my mother, uncle and brother would have stayed there had we been warned of the danger? Does the magistrate even know what it means to have somebody so dear snatched away from us just because someone tried to make a bit more money by adding two and a half feet of width to his apartment block?

Did the magistrate consult the Criminal Code which states that anyone found guilty of causing a death through negligence, lack of ability etc is liable to a hefty fine plus a prison term?

And does she not know that a death and an injury through the same causes mentioned here are punishable by even greater and heavier fines and prison terms? Is the magistrate even aware that the same Criminal Code is accesible to one and all over the internet and that every Tom, Dick and Harry can refer to it?

The days when the average man in the street used to bow his head to judgements given by the ones upholding the law (or at least those who are meant to uphold it) and accept it all are over.

We shall be taking this further.

“Turtle doves have more protection than citizens”.

Actually they don’t. There are no quotas on how many humans one may kill.

Anthropocentrism and anthropomorphism are both mistaken worldviews.

Thanks for replying, Daphne. Gozo SPCA have no legal powers to confiscate animals or prosecute in cases of cruelty to animals – only the police or the animal welfare department can do that – all Gozo SPCA can do is the best they can for stray and injured dogs and cats. The animal welfare department had to deal with this particular case as the dog needed tranquillising by dart gun.

Gozo SPCA have assisted around 350 animals a year until now. This will be cutback drastically going forward due to the following story. http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120424/local/Gozo-SPCA-suffers-setback-in-plans-to-build-a-dogs-home.416880

A priest was acquitted because the abuse had taken place in another place, and a man will be heavily fined for killing three turtle doves instead of two.

Turtle doves have more protection than citizens and even chickens who are also bird species massacred brutally by the millions in slaughter houses.

Maltese citizens are losing trust in justice.

Our judiciary and our legal practitioners have a lot to answer for. Their singular inability to stop making crime pay has damaged society permanently.

I’ve had it said to me, as have several others I know.

This dog suffered for two days because the incident (that could happen to any dog) happened in Gozo not Malta, and was only resolved by Gozo SPCA putting massive pressure on the animal welfare department.

Otherwise nothing would have happened, and the dog would now be dead as it couldn’t eat or drink. Gozo SPCA tried to catch the dog, but it was impossible to catch it as it was so terrified. It needed to be tranquillised by dart gun, which only the animal welfare officers are licenced to do.

[Daphne – That was exactly my point. Why were volunteers and animal welfare officials expected to deal with somebody’s pet? And after the trauma, why was the ‘pet’ – described as semi-feral and foraging for food – returned to the farmer? When my dogs need attention, I don’t call the animal welfare department or volunteers. I call the vet and pay the bill myself.]

Actually, there were relatively recent amendments to the Criminal Code which allow victims or their heirs to be represented in the court proceedings, take part in the prosecution, cross-examine witnesses and request compensation during the same criminal proceedings.

Then again, with the case in question taking so long to be decided, I have doubts as to whether these new provisions would have been relevant.

If you kill someone through negligence shouldn’t you get at least a heavy fine and at max a stay at Corradino? I was under the impression you could get a jail term for driving under the influence for example.

So if you get a jail term for being drunk whilst driving shouldn’t you get a jail term for killing someone when you admit you knew you were risking that person’s life by not following regulations?