‘Il-Qaħbu’ back in court over 2009 EP elections in Zejtun

Two men whose names were synomous with the violence that tarnished Labour in the 1980s were arraigned today in the Court of Criminal Appeal, charged again for having punched a PN sectional committee member, Grezzju Gambin, after the latter had reported Edwin Bartolo - known as 'il-Qahbu' - and Salvu Mifsud 'il-Qattus' for being inside a polling station without any authorisation during the 2009 European Parliament elections.

Their case was dismissed in November 2009 after Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona said he had been informed that Gambin and Joe Brownrigg - also a PN sectional committee member - had no further interest in the case.

The Attorney General had appealed the judgment, and then Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano, who presided over the Court of Criminal Appeal ruled in November 2010 that the case had been instituted by the police and therefore the court could not, on a presumption that there was no further interest in it by the victims, declare the case closed.

De Gaetano sent the case back to Magistrate Micallef Trigona for it to be heard again.

In today's sitting, Grezzju Gambin said that he had accompanied a voter to the Zejtun primary school building, which on 6 June 2009 was serving as an electoral polling station. Gambin said he saw Edwin Bartolo inside the school building, which to him was irregular and in breach of the electoral law.

Bondin filed a police report against Bartolo, who later confronted him and told him off for having been "silly" to say that he was inside the school.

"While I was still talking, Bartolo punched me in the face and threw me to the ground," Bondin said, adding that he spent a week with a black eye. The victim said that he has known Edwin Bartolo since his schooldays, and that the two were friends.

When asked if he was prepared to forgive Bartolo for punching him, Bondin replied: "It's not a question of forgiving. I still don't know why a friend would just punch you in the face, just for the fun of it."

Bondin also said that later in the day after the incident, Labour Party Committee members in Zejtun handed him a mobile phone where the then Labour secretary-general Jason Micallef had condemned the incident and asked for everybody's cooperation and to keep the peace.

The case is adjourned for 21 March.