Farmer slashed, migrant beaten in Safi escape

A farmer was slightly injured when one of two immigrants who escaped from the Safi detention centre allegedly slashed his eyebrow with a shaving blade yesterday.

The immigrant was then given “a sound beating” by three Maltese men who were in the vicinity of the farmer’s field, sources said.

The incident happened late in the afternoon after the two escaped from the Safi barracks, where they were waiting to be deported for overstaying their travel visas.

The men claimed to be Algerian but, the sources said, the Detention Services officers “had good reason to believe they were Libyan”.

Officers at the Safi detention centre spotted the two men as they jumped off the roof of the barracks into a neighbouring field.

There they bumped into the farmer. It was not clear whether he tried to stop them or ordered them off his property.

But, the sources explained, one of the Libyans slashed the farmer’s brow with a small blade. The alleged attacker was then beaten by men who were in the area.

Detention Services officers intervened and took the two immigrants back into custody.

A police spokesman said the farmer suffered slight injuries. After the alleged attack he made his way to a health centre and filed a police report at the Żurrieq police station.

The police are investigating.

There are three detention quarters within the Safi barracks and the responsibility for their running and security lies with the Detention Services.

Kirkop mayor Mario Salerno has long been complaining that something should be done to better monitor escapes from the Safi barracks.

When contacted he said he had asked the government to install a CCTV system near the fence of the detention centre that bordered a Kirkop residential area.