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Karl Schembri
The footage shot by security cameras of the latest vandalism attack on Portes des Bombes on 16 October has left police investigators with inconclusive evidence to arrest any suspects, proving the system to be useless in curbing the repeated defacement of the centuries-old gateway to the city.
Despite expectations raised by the surveillance system installed last year following a string of vandalism attacks on the same spot, the system has still proved to be useless to solve the case of three weeks ago – the first one to happen since the Works Division put up the cameras.
The police have officially remained embarrassingly silent about the course of investigations as the more time passes, the more difficult the case becomes for investigators to solve. And the Minister for Resources and Infrastructure responsible for the surveillance system has also failed to answer questions about the security lapses.
“The case is still being investigated and you will be informed as soon as I’ll get to know of any developments,” said Minister Ninu Zammit.
Last week, a spokesman for the ministry would not confirm that the footage was of little help to investigators. “The police investigations are still ongoing,” ministry spokesman Charles D’Alfonso said. “There is obviously the CCTV footage, but I can’t say anything else at this point. We have to let investigations take their due course.”
The gateway built in 1721 by Grand Master Perellos as part of the Floriana fortifications has been targeted four times by unknown vandals over the last year and a half, always to the authorities’ instant condemnations, but nobody was ever brought to court over the attacks.
Floriana Mayor Publio Agius, whose locality has also been targeted in the past by Valletta hooligans, said the cameras would be useless if they do not lead to any arrests.
“I just hope the cameras serve their purpose, because if not we’re back to square one,” he said. “If that’s the case they might as well dismantle everything. It would mean that more sophisticated technology is needed. Something definitely would have to be done.”
Expressing his condemnation of the attacks, Heritage Malta chairman Mario Tabone said the reason for installing cameras was to prevent vandalism.
“Short of prevention, one expects the cameras to reveal the vandals’ identity and the police to arrest them,” Tabone said. “Every vandalism attack on our monuments, apart from the substantial damage to our heritage, is also indicative of our lack of self esteem. These monuments are an expression of our identity. Besides, the money spent to restore vandalised monuments could be used to improve other heritage sites.”
kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt
Links:
www.maltatoday.com.mt/2006/10/15/t21.html
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