Court calls for harsher punishment for bomb hoaxes as Gozo ferry disruptor given suspended sentence

A court has asked whether it is time to consider whether to amend the law to increase the punishment for bomb hoaxes, especially when the target is a public place or a public facility, as a woman behind one such bomb hoax on the Gozo ferry was handed a suspended prison sentence.

Joelle Galea, 34, from Sliema, was sentenced to 16 months in jail suspended for 42 months after being found guilty of complicity in a bomb hoax which had paralysed the Gozo Channel service for several hours in May 2018.

The court heard how Galea had called Ronald Mallia, 32, of Mosta and promised him €1,000 if he called 112 saying there was a bomb in a car that was on a Gozo ferry. The call was traced to a phone box in St John’s Square and CCTV showed Mallia making the hoax call.

The police called Mallia in for questioning and the man had immediately admitted to the crime. He said Galea had promised him money to have the ferry service cancelled so she would be able to avoid meeting with her probation officer.

Mallia had been charged separately for his part in the offence and sentenced to a 10-month effective jail term.

Galea denied the charges and told police Mallia had made the call because he knew that she was travelling to Malta to make up with her husband, with whom she was estranged.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech observed that Mallia’s version had been corroborated by other circumstantial evidence, including telephone logs shortly before the 112 call was made.

The court declared Galea guilty of complicity in the bomb hoax and to instructing Mallia to make the threatening call. She was, however, cleared of heroin possession and of breaching the bail conditions of another case after the court noted that there was insufficient evidence.

Galea had been the subject of separate proceedings over the theft of €60,000 from her parents’ bank accounts at the time, but despite having admitted to the charges, the case was dropped after her parents withdrew their criminal complaint.

The court noted that the offence had taken place during a time in the woman’s life when she was tackling a serious drug problem and so her judgement was impaired. Magistrate Frendo Dimech imposed a three-year supervision order to help the woman to address her problems.

Notwithstanding this, Magistrate Frendo Dimech said the crime the woman was involved in was very serious, especially since it attacked the only means to cross the channel between Malta and Gozo.

The court questioned whether the time had come to introduce legal amendments to increase the punishment for similar offences and ordered that the Justice Minister be notified with the judgment.