Poliss in Wonderland

Published: July 23, 2013 at 3:52pm

The police said at a press conference this afternoon that they are to arraign, later on today, two men for the murder of Matthew Zahra, an underworld figure in his 20s, who vanished last summer.

At the same press conference, they said that DNA tests had not been concluded yet on the lone foot found with the bodies of Camilleri senior and junior, so they can’t yet say for certain that it is Zahra’s.

They have other (anecdotal) evidence, apparently, that Zahra was killed the day he went missing and dumped there – but surely they should wait until they have the DNA results before jumping this particular gun?

Yes, the likelihood is that the foot is Zahra’s but other bodies might well have been dumped there.

I was particularly struck by this gem, quoted by The Malta Independent on line:

Asked to confirm whether Camilleri snr died of a heart attack, prior to being shot, the police said that it’s the pathologists who could answer such questions, however no members of the pathology team were present to confirm the suggestion.

I’m surprised that the pathologists got any work done at all, given that the bodies were given a full funeral just 24 hours after being found in that field (and funerals have to be planned at least 24 hours ahead, which means that the Camilleri family knew for a fact, immediately the bodies were found, that they would be available for burial the next day).

But in any case, pathologists who work on this kind of thing can only speak to the press or third parties if authorised to do so by the police. They cannot speak off their own bat.

If the police wished the pathologists to speak, they would have presented them to the press at that conference.

But more to the point, exactly what sort of case are the police presenting to the court if, even after one of the alleged murderers has been arraigned, they cannot say if the victim died of a heart attack or of shooting?




12 Comments Comment

  1. Jozef says:

    ‘Private interests in oil exploration….’

    http://www.lavallettecorp.com/managment.html

    http://www.borneoholdings.com/pages/management_team/

    Involved wherever armed conflicts took place or still ongoing, South Sudan, Grenada, Somalia, Georgia, Mali.

    Chinese companies, Chinese finance, Chinese tactics. He seems to have a knack for setting up insurance companies and unload them to the host country’s central banks.

    Shareholding Chinese capital into the country.

    And Konrad thought he could leave this individual under wraps.

  2. vic says:

    Are we paving the way for a ‘not guilty’ verdict?

  3. Neil says:

    Check this one out from the online Times. Pitiful.

    Maria Xuereb

    Today, 16:18

    Trasformazzjoni tal-genn il-Pulizija that il-Kummissarju l-gdid. Konna rqadna u kien sar donnu xejn ama hu xejn. Proset lill-Korp kollu specjalment lill-Kummissarju Pietru Pawl Zammit ghalkemm ma nafux.

  4. Catsrbest says:

    May I ask – If one dies of a heart attack, then why shoot and knife him?

    • Gahan says:

      Just to make sure that he’s 100% dead. Or, better still, to pave the way for the defence lawyer to argue that no one can kill an already dead person..hence not guilty as charged.

  5. P Shaw says:

    Banana republic or more a case of crooksland

  6. jack says:

    Ronald Urry – https://www.facebook.com/ronald.urry

    I think his facebook profile says it all

  7. Pandora says:

    So does this mean that pending/unsolved cases will be given a boost and case will be solved within days?

  8. Francis Saliba MD says:

    ” … it’s the pathologists who could answer such questions …”

    Which reminds me of the story (apocryphal) about the forensic pathologist why reported the cause of death as “acute lead poisoning” when he discovered a 9 mm calibre lead bullet in the abdomen of a cadaver.

  9. ciccio says:

    Nahseb ahjar jintefghu jaghmlu l-kawlata u l-pranzi ghal-300 ruh, ghax milli jidher johorgu izjed bl-unuri.

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