Convicted ex-policeman Paul Sheehan cries foul over loss of service pension

Sheehan became a household name in 2014 after shooting at a civilian vehicle that failed to stop after clipping a wing mirror on a minister's official car

Paul Sheehan, an ex-police officer who had infamously shot at an unarmed motorist after a minor traffic accident, is claiming discrimination after being stripped of his service pension.

In an application filed by lawyer Edward Gatt before the First Hall of the Civil Court in its Constitutional jurisdiction, Sheehan argues that he had been acquitted of the “majority” of the charges against him and was mostly found guilty of contraventions.

He had faced disciplinary proceedings before the Public Service Commission, after the Commissioner of Police “used his arbitrary discretion” to refuse Sheehan’s resignation.

Describing the offences he had been convicted of as “trivial,” Sheehan’s lawyer is claiming that his client had been discriminated against, arguing that in many other cases, government officials had been treated differently.

He also argues that Sheehan has been deprived of his service pension, despite always having the relative contributions deducted from his salary. This was causing him a serious breach of his Constitutional right to property, he said, adding that his various letters to the defendants had either not been replied to or rejected.

Sheehan became a household name in 2014 after he fired aimed shots at a civilian vehicle which had failed to stop after clipping a wing mirror on a minister’s official car. At the time of the offence, Sheehan had been the official police driver for Manuel Mallia, the Home Affairs minister at the time.

In June 2020, Sheehan, had been found guilty of shooting at another car in November 2014, an incident which led to Mallia’s resignation. In the judgement delivered in that case, Magistrate Rachel Montebello Sheehan ruled that there was “not a shred of evidence” to show that the shots had been fired in self-defence or out of necessity.

However, that court had noted that although Sheehan was originally also charged with attempted murder, that charge was later dropped by the Attorney General

The 22- month suspended sentence he was handed had later been reduced on appeal to 15 months, suspended for three years. The order to confiscate the firearm and ammunition in Sheehan’s possession was also revoked.