Junior minister forgives man suspected of trying to injure him

Parliamentary Secretary Roderick Galdes has forgiven Eugene Galea, 54 of Lija, describing the incident as an isolated case. Galea was arrested by the police on suspicions he tried to assault Galdes last month.

The court heard how Galea, a former officer at the Animal Welfare Department, had his job terminated by the previous administration and had left his place of work under police escort.

Taking the witness stand, Galdes recounted the incident which saw Galea blocking the ministerial vehicle with his own car while shouting abuse.

Galea, Galdes said, complained that no action had been taken over alleged animal abuse carried out by the animal welfare department.

"At this point I tried to calm him down and asked him to remove his vehicle and to discuss the matter in my office," Galdes told Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit.

A month before the incident, Galea had reportedly approached the parliamentary secretary with information on animals which were allegedly killed at the Animal Welfare Department. The junior minister went on to pass the information to ALE officers and ordered an investigation.

Galdes said he received two Facebook messages from the accused, one of which exulted him for his work whilst the second accused Galdes of trying to hide evidence.

"At the time I had ignored the messages but after the incident I decided to pass on this communication to the police. On second thoughts, one of the messages was deemed threatening," he said.

According to the prosecution, Galea insisted that Galdes had taken no steps to investigate alleged animal abuse. Some of the cases, the police were told, were time-barred while other allegations were under investigation.