Neriku Demanuele. Photo: Courtesy of the Demanuele family

The children of a man who snatched away a gun that had just been used to kill a bank clerk recall how their father was worried about the safety of his family following his heroic deed.

The bank hold-up took place 50 years ago at the Mġarr agency of Barclays Bank.

“He was very worried after that... we all were,” recalls Joe Demanuele, the son of Neriku, who was known as Neriku Tal-Pastizzi, of Rabat.

“He realised that he had interfered with a group of criminals and was worried for us all. I remember he got a licence to keep a revolver at home after that... just in case. Thankfully, he never needed it.”

Neriku, who passed away at the age of 88 in 2015, was hailed as a hero after snatching the gun from the hands of an armed robber during the hold-up and possibly saving other lives.

On May 24, 1972, three hooded men, one of them armed with the gun, barged into the office as staff were preparing for the opening of business.

They cut the phone lines and ordered the staff to hand over cash. One of the robbers suddenly shot Joseph Spiteri, a new 18-year-old bank clerk from Żejtun, at point-blank range with the sawn-off shotgun.

At that point, Neriku Demanuele walked into the bank. He was the father of five children – Charles, Sylvia, Joe, Pawlu and Rita.

Joe, now 69, was a 19-year-old sixth former at the time. He has vivid memories of his father recounting what happened.

“Back then there was the conversion of the sterling to decimal, so he went to the bank to exchange money. There was a hold-up. One of the hooded men had shot a cashier.

“I remember my father describing how the victim had a small hole in his chest,” he said.

“He spoke about getting a mental flash. He felt the man holding the gun would be more disoriented than he was, given that he had just shot someone.

“So, he acted on that instinct, grabbed the gun from the robber, ran to the bank’s toilet and locked himself in. With no gun, the robbers fled.”

But when the reality sank in, fear followed. However, the men involved were arrested a few days later, Joe said.

His sister, 22, was working in the family’s Rabat pastizzeria below their home when, at about 10am, the police came in search of her father. Sylvia’s mother Maria sent her elder brother Charles to Mġarr to check what had happened.

“That day dad came home very late. He was pale and looked very tired. After that he worried... we all worried. He had seen and been through a lot,” she said.

Her father recounted the story of the robbery many times over the years.

John Consiglio. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

That episode shook the banking world in the country, recalls veteran banker John Consiglio, now 82.

Fifty years ago, he was Barclay’s staff resident instructor and Joe Spiteri was among his students.

“He was an exemplary student. He would travel from Żejtun to the training centre in Sliema and he was always first to arrive. He was a tall, smart young man, very quiet and polite,” Consiglio said.

“I remember once talking about bank security and telling the students that, if they were ever faced with a situation such as a hold-up, they were to do whatever the robber asked. If the robber wanted money, they were to give it to him.

“I distinctly remember Joe Spiteri sitting in the front row, in front of my podium, and he shook his head in a gesture that signified: God forbid that will ever happen.

“Who would have ever imagined that, barely two weeks later, he would become the first martyr of Maltese banking?”

Fear spread among bank staff, especially cashiers. And Barclay’s International upped the island’s insurance premium that had previously been low as Malta was considered a safe place for banking, Consiglio said, adding that other hold-ups followed.

There were several rumours about the Mġarr hold-up. Some said a person told the shooter that he had recognised him.

The rumour lives on.

Walking through the Mġarr piazza 50 years later, very few people remember the day as many were small children back then. But they all know the story, the day a cashier was shot dead after someone “recognised the robber”.

Many also recall that the shooter controversially got away with a light punishment.

Four men were taken to court a few days after the hold-up.

Two, Thomas Moran and Emanuel Zammit, pleaded guilty to armed robbery and were jailed for 18 years after the charge of murder against them was dropped.

John Gatt was found guilty of participating in the robbery and jailed for eight years.

A jury convicted Frank Frendo, who pulled the trigger, of armed robbery and manslaughter. He was sentenced to a mere nine years imprisonment with hard labour.

The jury found that Frendo was guilty of armed robbery and involuntary homicide because his firearm had gone off through his negligent and imprudent handling, causing death.