Loving the view Joey!

Thanks, namesake.

http://www.justiceservices.gov.mt/courtservices/Judgements/script_get_judgement_document.aspx?CaseJudgementID=81258

A hero’s welcome for a pig.

Cyrus Engerer and the prime minister: ma min rajtek xebbahtek.

Kick out the author of his own biography?? Who knows what happened during all the time he was writing about his good old Joseph.

David, can you please indicate where can I find the judgement issued by the Magistrate’s court in early June 2013, regarding this case.

I tried the link you gave but nothing materialised. I would appreciate to know the facts why the first court was so stupid to clear him from these serious accusations.

Actually “was” is correct, as otherwise the sentence would use two different tenses. For example if you bumped into someone at an event you might say “Oh, I didn’t know you were here” even though technically they “are” still “here”. It’s a common mistake in Malta.

[Daphne – I am afraid you are wrong. The common mistake in Malta is precisely yours: that the tenses have to ‘match’. They don’t. The tense of a verb is there to convey precise meaning. This is why English-language newspaper reporting is often so confusing in Malta – because reporters thinking that the tenses have to match when reporting speech. Hence you get something like: “The Leader of the Opposition said that it was a good thing that Malta was a part of the European Union.” People who speak correct English and don’t know the situation will interpret that to mean that Malta has now left the European Union. The correct grammar is: “The Leader of the Opposition said that it is a good thing that Malta is part of the European Union.” David Casa is still gay, therefore the verb that addresses this has to be the present tense. “I didn’t know you were here” is a completely different case and I don’t feel I should get tangled up in explaining it to you, but here goes: it’s a reference to the past period of the party in which the speaker did not know that the other person was there.]