Home affairs minister silent on Ghar Hasan shootout

Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici has repeatedly declined to comment on the Ghar Hasan shootout, in which a 26-year-old Malian squatter was shot at and injured by the police, even when asked who is going to shoulder the political responsibility over the questions which are being raised.

MaltaToday sent the questions to Mifsud Bonnici - whose ministry has the sole responsibility of the home affairs - 10 days ago, over the questionable use of firearms in the incident and asking to clarify what procedures are to be used by the officers to deal with the case.

MaltaToday also asked why the mobile squad car was not armed with at least one Taser gun, especially after such weapons were made mandatory after the 2007 shootout in Qormi when one man was left dead.

"Kindly refer your question to the Police Corps," came the ministry's reply eight days after the questions were sent out.

Repeatedly asked whether Minister Mifsud Bonnici will shoulder political responsibility for the incident, the ministry insisted that the questions were related to the "operational and procedural matters of the Police Corps" and thus the minister will not answer the questions.

MaltaToday also asked the Minister whether he was worried by the fact that incidents like the Qormi case are repeating themselves and that a mobile squad which should be armed with a Taser gun, was not.

Mifsud Bonnici also failed to say who will be conducting the magisterial inquiry.

Suleiman Samake, 26 of Malian origin, was involved in a skirmish with the police at Ghar Hasan when officers were looking into reports of a person squatting in one of the caves at Birzebbugia.

The incident happened on Friday, 30 March. According to Police Commissioner John Rizzo, police officers on site were forced to shoot the man after he ignored four warning shots and threatened to attack the policemen with a 45cm knife.

Reportedly, the police officers first tried to stop the man with a pepper spray, but it had little effect on Samake.

Moreover, the mobile squad was not armed with Taser guns which meant that the only arm they could use was either a truncheon or their pistol. The Police Commissioner said that the area in which the squatter and the officers found themselves was dangerous and any one of them could have risked falling off the cliffs.

A magisterial inquiry has been launched to establish why the incident escalated to a point that required the police mobile squad to shoot at Samake.

Taser guns were introduced in Malta following a 2007 incident in Qormi, in which Bastjan Borg was killed in a police shootout. Internal circulars issued by the Police Commissioner in 2009 authorised any Maltese police officer of any rank to use Taser guns in "exceptional circumstances" such as to avert violence.

All members of the Maltese police force can carry Taser guns, since training and awareness lectures on the handling and use of the weapon have been delivered to all ranks.

However, according to Sunday newspaper it-Torca, the Police Corps doesn't have the required finances to either give each officer of the mobile squad a Taser gun. It reportedly neither has enough finances to at least arm each mobile squad car with one.

Each Taser gun reportedly costs around €900 and €3,600 are needed to arm all mobile squad cars with one.

It-Torca also revealed that only four mobile squads have Taser guns and are used by those roaming the North, South, East and West regions of the island. During each shift there are usually seven mobile squad cars patrolling the whole of Malta.

Other Taser guns are found in a number of main police stations and in districts considered as "hot areas" by the police.