So it’s not justified to run somebody over when they call you ‘poofter’, even if you’re from Mellieha
Alan Gauci, 37, who was conditionally discharged by Magistrate Carol Peralta after he deliberately ran over an Australian man almost an hour after that man had called him ‘poofter’ in a bar, has been jailed for a year by the Court of Appeal.
Peralta had said that his actions were justified because suggesting a man is gay in Mellieha is an outrageous slur. Aside from all other considerations, this outrageous assertion misses the point – perhaps deliberately – that the British/Australian insult ‘poofter’ is just about as much of a suggestion that the other man is gay as calling him a c*nt means that he is a piece of female genitalia.
In any case, better sense prevailed in the court of appeal, after the Attorney-General took it there to contest the lower court’s interpretation of ‘provocation’.
Judge Michael Mallia said that provocation can’t be used as defence or justification for running somebody down deliberately with a car. The victim had been left seriously injured.
Being called ‘gay’, he said, is no reason for any rational person to lose his temper or react like that. And besides, this wasn’t done in the heat of the moment, but 40 minutes after the argument.
So Gauci now has a year in the cooler.
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Don’t judge people from Mellieha as a result of this idiot’s behaviour. Peralta’s reasonong and statements is equally flawed.
The best bit, which everyone in Malta takes for granted, is the time it has taken.
The incident happened over NINE YEARS AGO.
Called Mater Dei today to fix an appointment for a dental check up. I was given a December 2013 appointment and that is just for the check up.
For a follow-up clean-up, the waiting times are a further 1-4 weeks. Utterly disgraceful. Irrespective of which administration caused the waiting list, this is unacceptable.
However, in all fairness when I booked a podologist at a Health Centre the waiting time was a month which is reasonable for a check up as opposed to an emergency.
[Daphne – Why do you see a dentist at the general hospital for a check-up? It won’t break the bank to go privately – a couple of pizzas at most.]
Going for a simple check up at Mater Dei Hospital is not worth the effort or the money spent in parking at the place. It’s cheaper to go private.
You’re right, it doesn’t break the bank under normal circumstances. I usually pay around Euro 35 every 3 months and go privately. However since losing my job the medical bills have been adding up and for the first time in my life I am using the NHS because needs must.
We are a lucky nation. In Malta we have excellent dentists and their services are not expensive as abroad.
The dental clinics in Malta should take up dental tourism seriously especially with the Italians who are already moving to the Eastern countries to have dental treatments.
I can’t help comparing a year for running somebody down deliberately with a car with 10 years for possession of marijuana for own use.
If you are referring to Holmes, you are not correct. He pleaded guilty to trafficking.
A year less 100 days. Thanks Manuel.
He deserves longer in prison.
And using a car as a weapon should have carried a harsher sentence.
A prison sentence for the serious injury and another for the car being used as a weapon.
Were Gauci not some sort of emotionally stunted homophobic man suffering from various insecurities that have probably persecuted him since his childhood, I’d have made him out to be quite the mason. This Judge has sent the man to his rightful lodging, even if only for a year for attempted murder. Chapter closed.
WAITING LIST count yourself lucky in a way. You called today and was given an October 2013 appointment and I called about a month ago also for a check-up and was given an appointment for February 2014.
Obviously, I took the easy way out and went privately where I got an appointment for two days later and only waited there for 15 minutes. So much for the taxes we are paying.