UPDATED/The night of 19 November – a map
Update note: The map has been updated to indicate the location of Black Gold Saloon and of the Ta’ Xbiex marina where Smith lives on a boat. I take all these things for granted as that is my home territory, and overlooked the fact that the strangeness of the route he took is not apparent to those who don’t know the area. My thanks to the reader who produced this map.
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This route begins in Turu Colombo Square, Gzira. But we have to ask what Smith was doing there in the first place. He said in court that he’d been drinking at the Black Gold Saloon. That’s on the Strand, where Sliema meets Gzira. He lives on a boat in Ta’ Xbiex. To get there, all he had to do was drive straight along the Strand, from one end to the other.
He said he was looking for water. Any shops likely to be selling water at that time of night are on the Strand itself. Instead of sticking to the Strand, Smith took a detour into the heart of Gzira, even crossing Rue D’ Argens to get into the side-streets, and for some reason ended up in Nicolas Cottoner Street which has since become Turu Colombo Square (the street leads into the square).
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Oh finally. We’ve seen the roadmap.
ROFL
You made my day!
Let’s start from what seems to be the obvious: that detour into Triq Wied il-Kappara, was it necessary? Why?
Looking for water? He must have been using a faulty divining rod.
Looking for water? Maybe he was in the right place, then.
Paul Sheehan can be seen removing a bottle of water from the Ministerial car under the tunnels. Watch the tunnels video here:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141119/local/update-8-shooting-incident-ministerial-driver-suspended-from-all-duties.544812
Perhaps he was looking for a homing device.
Smith could have bought water from the snack bars close to his yacht, around the Manoel Island Bridge.
It was still early for these snack bars to close, including the one next to the bridge, next to his yacht. The mind boggles.
Mallia would have told him, he bottles his from the Main Guard fountains.
In his telephone call to the police control room, when asking for the Rapid Intervention Unit, Sheehan says he is near the “pixxina”.
He is asked if he’s in the car park and he says “yes, they’ll see me”.
I know the area very well, and if the RIU went straight to the national pool car park they could easily have missed GM14 in Triq Edgar Bernard.
The car park and especially the road leading to it are very dark and probably empty at night. Could this be an inconspicuous meeting place?
Have we completely dismissed the possibility that the minister was with Sheehan at the time of the shooting, and was somehow taken to Police HQ from there to give him some sort of alibi? Was anyone else present at the social function that night?
And what car park tal-pixxina? That would be closer to Guzè Miceli Street.
I asked myself the same question. What was Smith doing there? It wasn’t just coincidence.
Where does Silvio Scerri live, or what does he have going on in that area?
The street where the shooting took place is the same as the one where the photo you have of his parked car by the pool was.
What operation do they have in or near Triq Edgar Bernard?
If he was really looking for water he should have gone to Valletta with a couple of jerrycans.
So Smith lives on a boat. How convenient.
The (homing) pigeons are coming home to roost. Chortle, chortle.
Apologies if i sound dense but are we saying that Sheehan left the minister’s car four blocks away?
And then can hear the car mirror being knocked off? And then has time to run four blocks and accost Smith who is waiting patiently for him or anyone to arrive?
And the three ex-judges don’t find anything strange about all this?
And the papers have not pointed anything out.
[Daphne – No, you’ve misunderstood, and nobody can blame you for that given the chaos. Sheehan says his boss’s car was parked in Turu Colombo Square. He was at his mother’s place in Nicolas Cottoner Street, which leads into the square. Yes, he actually claims he heard somebody hit the car and that he knew it was GM14. He also dashed out in time to see Smith get away, and also in time to clamber into GM14 and give chase. The route on the map is the route the chase took, with the confrontation and shooting happening in Triq Wied il-Kappara and then they took off again.]
Apologies for continuing to sound dense but the label which refers to Wied il-Kappara street states that this is where the DOI claims that the GM14 car was hit. Does this mean that the minister’s car was hit twice? And if so are there any photos of the damage done to this car.
[Daphne – Now I realise what the problem is. That label needs to be corrected and I have put a note update at the top of the post about that. The car was hit in Turu Colombo Square. We have no independent eyewitness accounts for that so far, but this is what Sheehan has said. In Triq Wied Il-Kappara, Sheehan and Smith had an altercation. This is where witnesses saw them both standing outside their cars, with Sheehan pointing a gun at Smith. Smith then got into his car and drove into Edgar Bernard Street with Sheehan shooting at him.]
So far all we seem to have is ‘missing’ evidence: no account of how much damage was done to the GM14 car, no spent bullet cartridges, no indication of how allegedly drunk Smith was, no Heineken bottle. This is one shoddy inquiry.
Also what has happened to the official inquiry, that of the magistrate on duty. Did s/he have nothing to say about tampering with the scene of the crime ? Has he/she nothing to ask the ex-acting police commissioner, he who is oh-so-innocent and did everything by the book?
Well, actually, the DOI press release states that the car was hit twice without actually specifying names of streets.
The first time was when the mirror was allegedly hit.
The second time was when Smith allegedly tried to force GM14 into a wall.
http://www.gov.mt/en/Government/Press%20Releases/Pages/2014/November/19/pr142726.aspx
According to Sheehan’s written statement there is a witness referred in the article as a ‘resident’ who could tell us whether Mr Sheehan was really at his mother’s house, whether he left the house alone and how long it took him to collect his car keys and unattended gun (with a four year old in the house) thus shedding some light on how he managed to catch up with Smith’s car.
‘He said he was on duty with the Minister and, at the time of the incident, he was at his mother’s house. He heard a noise and looked outside. A resident told him that someone had hit one of the cars parked in the street. He went back inside and grabbed the car keys and his gun. He chased the other car down Sliema Road and then Nazju Ellul Street.’
This witness is very important because Smith does not mention a car chase down Nazju Ellul Street by default claiming that the GM14 car was parked in Triq Wied il-Kappara.
‘He miscalculated and clipped the mirror and the door of a parked car. Mr Smith said he stopped to get the details of the owner of the other car but a man came out of a house and was shouting aggressively at him. The man was holding a gun. “He was in a fit of rage. I was convinced he was going to shoot me. I genuinely feared for my life and I fled the scene.” Mr Smith said that Sheehan did not identify himself. As he started to turn the first corner he heard the first shot. Another shot rang out as he cleared the corner.’
It would be interesting to have Smith identify the house Sheehan came out from. Alternatively we need the civilian witnesses to tell us exactly how the cars were positioned in the street, that is, was the GM14 car parked. It makes sense that the GM14 car was parked in that street for Smith to get into the car and drive off so easily. What we really need is that video.
Any idea why the retired judges choose to mention the national pool car park in their report?
Source: http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-12-09/local-news/Compilation-of-evidence-against-Paul-Sheehan-starts-in-court-Inspector-Mamo-first-to-testify-6736127026
PS Thanks for the visual aid. If only the PN could oblige us with an infographic or short film with a complete time line of the events. Most people get confused with all these conflicting little details.
At the risk of the whole thing beginning to pan out like a Hercule Poirot novel, if Sheehan stated in his written statement: ‘He said he was on duty with the Minister”, where was the minister exactly?
Or did he mean he was on duty for the minister, i.e. babysitting duties?
What is interesting is that so far no witnesses living in the area of Turu Colombo Square have come forward claiming to have heard a “loud bang”. The only eyewitnesses of the altercation live in Triq Wied il-Kappara/ Triq Edgar Bernard.
The only person to have said that the mirror was clipped in Turu Colombo Square is Sheehan.
Times of Malta reports Smith testifying that he stopped the car to exchange details immediately. Daphne’s and Malta Right Now’s eyewitnesses stated that this happened in Triq Wied il-Kappara. The Times report, however, doesn’t specify where the eyewitnesses testifying in Court claim to have been. I think this is an important detail.
Was Sheehen in Turu Colombo Square at all? If not, why was he trying to hide his true location at the time of the accident?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141209/local/update-4-i-was-convinced-he-was-going-to-shoot-at-me-shooting-victim.547557
[Daphne – That might just be poor reporting, which sometimes happens as reporters try to synthesise long and complicated testimony and end up losing clarity or missing the salient sequence of facts. In any case, this is the compilation of evidence and not the actual trial hearing. All of this will have to emerge during cross examination of witnesses during the actual trial hearing.]
And Sheehan even had time to get his gun out and load it.
And be on the phone at the same time.
According to the inquiry evidence the gun was always loaded and had no need to be cocked – it was already cocked.
How about some journalist go and ask the residents of Nicolas Cottoner Street whether they too heard the ‘hoss qawwi’?
And another thing, does this man keep his car keys with him at all times, even when at table?
Even because Smith’s version of what happened the moment the mirror was ‘clipped’ doesn’t tally with that of Sheehan.
Surely that should match.
Is there a shop that stays open late at Turu Colombo Square? Perhaps they sell water cheaper there.
Goverment roadmap
There were witnesses of the first meeting of the two drivers near Sheehan’s home.They must have heard what the two men were arguing about. Perhaps no one asked them to testify about this.
[Daphne – Sheehan and Smith were not arguing near Sheehan’s home, but in Triq Wied Il-Kappara. Sheehan’s home is near Turu Colombo Square.]
I think this should really be clarified.
Even because of Sheehan’s brother rushing out and running back saying Pawlu sparalu. Quite a jog.
Hold on, Daphne – if what you asserting is this case, then Smith is either totally confused or being liberal with the truth.
His testimony is very specific:
He miscalculated and clipped the mirror and the door of a parked car. Mr Smith said he stopped to get the details of the owner of the other car but a man came out of a house and was shouting aggressively at him. The man was holding a gun.
That would imply that he stopped in Turu Colombo square which immediately begs the question why would he stop again in Wied il-Kappara Street.
More importantly why has no newspaper outlined all this in a clear manner. At the very least it would be helpful for journalists to have the facts clearly laid out so that they can ask the right questions.
It’s obvious the two, Sheenan and Smith know each other well, and hate each other. This was not a random act.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141211/local/former-acting-commissioner-i-did-nothing-wrong-will-continue-to-serve-in-the-police-force.547705
Misrah Turu Colombo is a notorious shady area where common drug deals happen. Usual stuff to be found there is marijuana, ecstasy and cocaine.
Yeah. You don’t want to leave your car parked there. It’ll be covered in pigeon droppings.
Where is Sheehan’s Madonna and tas-suwed on the map?
Nowhere near Gzira. It’s in Marsa. The operator at Police Headquarters thought that Sheehan was referring to the latter, at first.
Statue of Our Lady, bottom left.
Do not forget that Smith asked to speak to Manwel Mallia when at the Police Headquarters.
Maybe Smith was going to visit someone he knows and who lives in that area.
They say that Morrison Smith is a coke dealer.
Maybe Sheehan likes to turbo-boost his Red Bull with a little coke mixed in?
My network of national spies tell me that Smith lives in an apartment in a block in Birkirkara.