Prison director Robert Brincau will not be suspended from his role despite being charged in court with threatening an ambulance driver with a gun, the home affairs ministry has said.

The Corradino Correctional Facility boss is charged with carrying a gun without a license, injuring, insulting and threatening the driver, carrying a weapon without a licence and breaching the peace in the incident at Għadira Bay in August.

On Wednesday, a court heard witnesses testify that Brincau pointed a gun at volunteer ambulance driver Liam Doublet’s head.  

Before that Brincau allegedly head-butted Doublet and was also recorded threatening Doublet with the words “I'll kill you and your family,” the court heard. 

The incident developed against the backdrop of rising territorial tensions between first aid organisations, the Red-Cross Malta, of which Brincau is a former director and Alpha Medical, who had been awarded a government tender in 2017. 

Despite the criminal proceedings the home affairs ministry has continued to back Brincau. A spokesperson for the ministry described the event as “an alleged personal incident, which has nothing to do with Mr Brincau's official duties.” 

“The ministry feels that in these circumstances a vacuum for a long time at the Correctional Services Agency would not be in the best interest of the prison's administration,” he said. 

Prison NGOs such as Mid-Dlam għad-Dawl and Fondazzjoni Rise expressed a similar position, the spokesperson said.  

The opposition has called for Brincau’s suspension, despite recognising the progress made during his tenure.  

Shadow home affairs minister Joe Giglio said that Brincau should be suspended pending the conclusion of proceedings on grounds of good governance. 

The prison boss’s authority has been weakened by the proceedings, the shadow minister said.