Nurse cleared of spreading false rumours about colleague

Formosa, a man of strong Catholic religious beliefs had been deeply troubled after hearing allegations of a nurse offering abortion services in Sicily

A Court has cleared a hospital nurse of falsely alleging that a female colleague of his was offering abortion services in Sicily, holding that the person making the allegation had not intended to cause harm when he had sent an anonymous request for the investigation of the rumour.

The case dates back to 2007, when Noel Formosa, a 40-year-old nurse at the Orthopaedic Outpatients Department, had been told by a colleague carrying an unplanned pregnancy, that she had been advised to go to Sicily to seek an abortion. The person who she said had allegedly suggested this was none other than Formosa’s senior colleague Miriam Genuis.

Formosa, a man of strong Catholic religious beliefs - he told the court that he had been part of the Neocathecumenal movement for 30 years - had been deeply troubled after hearing the story by another nurse.

He had informed his superior, who in turn, informed Hospital Director Emanuel Bezzina. Bezzina had summoned the nurse to his office, where he explained that he needed a written report to investigate, but added that if the allegation turned out to be false, there would be negative consequences for Formosa.

Faced by this situation, the accused had explained his predicament to a priest, who suggested that he write a confidential letter to the authorities in order to request the investigation.

Formosa took up the suggestion and sent an anonymous letter outlining his concerns, to the Minister for Health. This had sparked an internal investigation and led to the questioning of all the department’s staff. All had, with the exception of one other staff member, declared that they had not been aware of the alleged practise.

Ironically, the person who had originally communicated the allegations to the accused had declared that she was not aware of the practice.

One other nurse had declared that she had heard rumours in the preceding year or two, but that these were vague.

There had been other anonymous letters about Genuis, the court heard, but noted that no evidence had been brought to link them to the accused, who also denied having any involvement with them.

The court took particular heed of the priest’s description of the situation. Formosa had not mentioned names to him, only outlining that there was a situation which needed to be addressed.

“It was more of a question of conscience, that he needed to take action, so he would have at least done his part,” the priest had testified.

Quoting Professor Sir Anthony Mamo, the court held that the mere factual falsity of a false allegation, without the certain knowledge that it was untrue, could not give rise to calumny. Neither had the accused acted with the aim of bringing Genuis into disrepute, but rather he had been compelled by his conscience to ask that the allegations of facilitating abortion be investigated; if found to be true, the practice would be brought to an end and if found to be false the rumours about her would stop.

Having taken into account the evidence and the circumstances surrounding the case, as well as the lack of animosity the accused had displayed towards the woman, Magistrate Marse Anne Farrugia said that she was morally convinced that he had not intended to harm her and dismissed the charges, finding for the defence.

Inspector Raymond Aquilina prosecuted.

Lawyers Giannella De Marco and Gianluca Caruana Curran were defence counsel. Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi appeared parte civile.