Has the Education Channel lost its mind?
I’ve just received this email:
I find myself writing this email under a state of semi-shock. Flipping through the television channels this evening I came across the education channel, e22, a channel I rarely watch. The person speaking at the time looked familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I had seen him. Then they advertised his site, www.meteomalta.com. Although I believe this domain to be different from the other weather-site domain linked to his name, I instantly remembered who this chap was – none other than Mark Vella Gera, who was named in your blog as the man found guilty of sending sexual text messages to the children he taught.
He admitted his guilt, and was punished by our legal system. What I cannot fathom is how on earth he is allowed to advertise courses in meteorology for children, and on the education channel, too. The programme in question was ‘Perspettiva’. As it drew to a close, there was a lame attempt at covering up his identity by referring to him as Mark Vella.
I feel that it is high time that you use your influential column to remind parents/guardians as to who this individual is, preventing any damage being done to more children.
Rather than advising parents not to send their children to weather courses run by Mark Vella Gera, as advertised on the education channel, I prefer to get to the root of the matter and ask why the education channel is helping him promote those courses, when in view of his track record, the primary reason for holding those courses may be to gain access to children.
This is a perfect illustration of the reason why it is so wrong for the courts to ban publication of the names of people involved in child abuse or sexual advances towards children. It allows them to resurface and start all over again, because nobody knows who they are or that they have the wrong sort of predilection for children. The people who run the education channel are unaware, I imagine – I don’t think they would be helping him gain access to children otherwise. And quite obviously, there are thousands of parents who are unaware, too.
Not everyone reads this blog, the only place where his name and photograph were published – even though that particular post is by far the top-ranked and the most-viewed in the entire 11 months this blog has been going. It got an even higher number of views than the posts on election Sunday. And even that was not enough.
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There’s a repetition of the said program, tomorrow (Thursday 12th February at 10am on TVM and on Sunday 15th February at 2.30pm on e22.
If I’m not mistaken he hosts the website, maltaweather.com.
And no wonder these things happen
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090210/local/man-performs-sex-acts-with-young-girl-he-met-on-internet
And there are people who care
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090211/letters/justice-denied-in-child-sexual-abuse-cases
A friend of mine once worked in an internet cafe in Malta. One would be surprised (or maybe not) at how many men (no women were spotted in these cases) go for child pornography. Those filthy individuals, actually and unsurprisingly ordinary men, didn’t even clean up the address protocol before they left.
I hope that access to any kind of pornography is denied now in those internet cafes.
This man should have been banned by the law courts from ever working with children again…for a lifetime. Paedophiles never change their ways; they just move on to hunt elsewhere. He should be monitored for the rest of his life.
Those who are unaware of the case, or who have forgotten what Mark Vella / Mark Vella Gera looks like, please click on the attached link:
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=369#comment-33463
John Meilak – Yes, it’s http://www.maltaweather.com
Mark Vella / Mark Vella Gera’s sentence of the 22.04.2008 states:
“Il-Qorti inoltre tordna l-iskwalifika tal-imputat milli jkollu jew jottjeni “warrant” ta’ ghalliem jew kull “warrant” iehor fejn b’xi mod ikun impjegat ma’ skola jew ma’ istituzzjoni li jkolla l-kura, anke temporanja, ta’ minorenni ghall perjodu indefinit u dan ai termini tal-Artiklu 30(1) tal-Kapitolu 9 tal-Ligijiet ta’ Malta.
Tordna komunika ta’ din is-sentenza lid-Dipartiment tal-Edukazzjoni ghal kull mizura li d-Dipartiment jista’ jikkonsidra fic-cirkostanzi.”
How shocking ! This man must be exposed once and for all. Why do these things happen in Malta? This man was banned by the court to involve himself whatsoever with the Dept of Education, and here he is advertising courses for children on the state media. Outrageous!