Valuables have gone missing from the apartment of a woman who lost her home following excavation works.
Anthea Brincat told Times of Malta money and jewellery had gone missing from the Guardamangia home, which was substantially damaged on June 13, sparking nationwide anger. She did not specify the value.
Activists' group Moviment Graffitti revealed the woman's anger and frustration after police allegedly told her they do not have the authority to search the workers in the adjacent construction site where works are continuing.
The government-appointed architect refused to stop works until police could search the workers, telling the woman she "should not waste his time", the NGO alleged in a Facebook post.
The residents – some of whom have been homeless for two months – have been ignored by virtually everyone.
The apartment wall was substantially damaged because of excavation works being carried out next door. The previous week a three-story apartment block collapsed in Mellieħa, just days after another apartment block, adjacent to a building site, collapsed in Guardamangia.
Graffitti said the woman informed them she had filed a report but police “angrily told her she was expecting too much”.
“Workers on the nearby construction site (works are ongoing, despite the risk of ulterior collapses) were not searched or interrogated about the matter because the police weren't given the authority to do so. Returning to the site and asking for works to be halted until the police arrived, the architect appointed by the courts phoned her up and told her that he was the only one who could give orders and told her “not to waste his time.” The residents’ architect was forbidden from carrying out onsite inspections; he will be allowed onsite tomorrow, after the contractor built a wall and poured concrete over the underlying rocks to hide the cracks,” Graffitti wrote.
Graffitti expressed disgust at the state of affairs.
"It seems there’s no limit, not even the slightest hint of shame, when it comes to the construction industry. The authorities have let the storm subside before issuing a rushed, nonsensical reform and went on as if nothing had happened. The residents – some of whom have been homeless for two months – have been ignored by virtually everyone."