Police inefficiency

I am truly bewildered by the findings of a Police Complaints Board inquiry into the police action in the case of murder victim Nicolette Ghirxi, headed by Judge Emeritus Geoffrey Valenzia. His conclusions are neither here nor there.

At one point, he says that “it does not appear that the police failed to take measures within the scope of their powers that, when judged reasonably, could have been expected to avoid that risk”. Then he states that “the police and Appoġġ should tackle cases of harassment with more urgency”.

Police depot. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Quoting from the findings: “When the police received the information from Ghirxi on the 8th of August that [Edward] Johnston had returned to Malta, the police, at this stage, had no grounds to arrest Johnston. The only thing they could have done was to summon him for questioning.” Which they did not and this led to her murder.

Therefore, it appears that the police did fail in their duties to take any action. I do not accept the mediocre excuse that the police inspector was busy on another job. 

The police have many, many complaints by the public to attend to simultaneously. In this particular case, the complaint had been on their files since April. No one was made to bear the brunt.

My conclusion is that this is another case of a person’s life being sacrificed due to the inefficiency of the very same people entrusted to protect these islands’ inhabitants.

Anthony Saliba – St Paul’s Bay

There is nothing irregular here

I woke to the paper today (October 28), reading of yet another case whereby a government entity again ignored the rights of an indvidual, and as a parting shot said nothing irregular is happening here. 

The police executing a no-knock search warrant dragged semi-naked female corrections officer out of bed, cuffed her and threw her into a chair. All the time they said nothing to her. 

When two superior officers showed up later (including a female officer) and had her restraints removed, they asked who she was. Not the named person on the warrant, and wrong apartment. They released her. To say the least, her mental state was severely damaged. 

When she lodged a complaint with the police, the commissioner said nothing irregular here. 

The same edition of the paper today – the freezing of Yorgen Fenech's assets were unfrozen because, wait for it, the AG failed to process the paperwork in a timely manner. This is a specialty of the AG. 

Don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of reading about the repeat incompetence of our senior law enforcement. A bunch of Keystone cops. 

Time for the prime minister to do something positive for the people now, and stop talking about 2050.

Alan Zelt – Naxxar