Prison boss Robert Brincau pointed a gun at an ambulance driver's head and was recorded threatening him with the words "I'll kill you and your family", a court heard on Wednesday.

The head of Corradino Correctional Facility denies a range of offences including injuring the man and carrying a gun without a licence at Għadira Bay in August. 

Volunteer ambulance driver Liam Doublet described to the court how he "turned cold" when the 49-year-old prison boss whipped out a firearm and pointed it at his head during a heated argument. 

The weapon, which was presented in court along with a black holster and ten 9mm bullets, was among the list of weapons registered at CCF but not to Brincau himself.

Doublet was working as a driver with Alpha Medical, a private company which provided emergency medical services at the beach and had clashed with the Red Cross over who had the right to bring patients to hospital by ambulance. 

On August 21, a similar issue arose when Alpha Medical transferred a man suffering from chest pains to Mater Dei Hospital despite the Red Cross official saying another ambulance was on its way.

When Doublet returned to the beach at about 5.30pm, they tended to a woman who was stung by a hornet and needed immediate treatment. 

As they parked the ambulance, the patient was directed into the back of the vehicle to be medically assisted by the nurse.

'Don't meddle with the Red Cross'

Just as the driver got out of the ambulance he was approached by Brincau, a former director of Red Cross and his wife, the current director, Doublet told the court.

“Don’t you meddle with Red Cross (Ma tar-Red Cross ma ticcajtawx)”, the man, whom the witness later identified as Brincau, said.

Then suddenly, he head-butted the driver who reacted by punching his alleged aggressor straight in the face. That was when Brincau drew out a firearm and pointed it at Doublet’s head. 

“I turned cold. I was dumbfounded. I did not know how to react,” the witness said.

Brincau’s wife stepped in to break up the fight, urging her husband, “Put that away. Don’t you mess around with such things."

The driver said under cross-examination that some weeks before the incident he had been to Poland where he visited a shooting range. That was the first time he handled a weapon, a 9mm calibre "similar to this one."  Never again did he handle a firearm. "I'm a war enthusiast. That's all," he said. 

Nurse filmed incident

Meanwhile, the nurse took the pager device used for emergency calls, and began to shoot a video from inside the ambulance as soon as she saw the weapon in the alleged aggressor’s hand. 

Under cross-examination by Brincau’s lawyer, Stephen Tonna Lowell, Doublet denied assaulting any Red Cross staff. He also said that he had not provoked Brincau’s head butt.

He said he was "terrified" but confirmed that he had a calm conversation with the accused aftewards about how Alpha Medical and Red Cross were to work together in future. 

But when Brincau and his wife left the scene, they called their boss, Charlton Caruana, who told them to head straight to the police station to file a report. 

Meanwhile, the nurse forwarded footage of the incident via WhatsApp, not knowing until then who the alleged aggressor was. 

It was only later, when the two met their boss at the Qawra police station, that they found out that the aggressor was the prison director.

The nurse, Daniela Dingli, also gave her account, repeating the sequence of events up to the moment when she caught sight of the weapon in Brincau’s hand and decided to film. 

“I felt we were not at all safe and so I began to record, using the ambulance pager.”

But when Brincau poked his head through the open door of the ambulance, telling her, “I know you’re recording,” she “froze” and immediately put away the device. 

The nurse said that the weapon was not visible while she was filming. As he walked away she noticed the weapon partly tucked away inside the back of his Bermuda shorts.

Asked why she had chosen to film rather than rush to the nearby police officer for help, the witness explained that she had just graduated and this was her first experience.

They were medically trained but not to handle such events.

“I was terrified,” she said. 

'Are these things normal?'

The patient stung by the hornet, who also testified in court, had turned to the nurse saying, “Oh my God! Are these things normal?” as the aggressor walked away, weapon jutting out at the back of his shorts.

She described the weapon as being "dark grey" but asked to confirm if it was the one exhibited in court she said she was not familiar with weapons. 

Charlton Caruana testified that that afternoon he got a call from Brincau himself who angrily warned that “they were to leave Red Cross alone.”

Caruana promptly retorted that Brincau was now prison director and had nothing more to do with Red Cross, hanging up abruptly.

It was only after seeing footage of the incident, sent by the nurse, that he realised Brincau was the alleged aggressor of his staff.

In the first eight seconds of that footage, the aggressor is heard saying, “I’ll kill you and your family,” Caruana told the court. 

He dialed Brincau’s number and warned, “next time you point your weapon, do so at me not my staff,” recalled Caruana. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Brincau had retorted. 

Row over a tender

It transpired that the two had apparently been at loggerheads since the private company won a public tender issued by the Malta Tourism Authority in 2017.

“Our offer was cheaper than that of the Red Cross. Since then the threats started. I get calls from Brincau because we stepped into their line of activity.” 

At the start of the hearing, a female officer from the Qawra police station confirmed that Brincau had no firearms registered in his name.

Brincau pleaded not guilty to all charges, which included insulting and threatening the man, breaching the public peace and misuse of electronic communications equipment.

The case continues.

Superintendent Priscilla Caruana Lee and Inspector Ryan Vella prosecuted.Lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell was defence counsel.Lawyer Mario Mifsud represented the Correctional Services Agency. Lawyer Edmond Cuschieri appeared parte civile.

PN says Brincau should be suspended 

The shadow minister for home affairs, Joe Giglio, said late on Wednesday that in the interests of good governance, Robert Brincau should be suspended pending the conclusion of the current proceedings.

Giglio said that while the PN recognised progress made at the prisons under Bincau, his authority had been weakened by the proceedings.  

He should therefore be suspended until the proceedings are concluded and somebody else appointed instead.  Unless that happened, a dangerous precedent would be set.