Soldier sacked over gate jibe files judicial protest to get his job back

A former AFM soldier who was discharged from the force last year after a video in which he pokes fun at a gate installed by the armed forces at the Pembroke shooting range was leaked and went viral on social media, has asked for his job back.

In a judicial protest filed this morning by lawyers Joseph Giglio and Mario Spiteri, Godwin Schembri argued that the decision by the Commander of the AFM to sack him was unreasonable and discriminatory.

Schembri was discharged from the AFM last year after the mobile phone video in which he mocks a new gate which had no boundary wall attached to it.

Schembri, at the time holding the rank of Bombardier, was driving an army jeep with fellow soldiers on board as he drove out of the Pembroke shooting ranges and around the gate straight onto the road, pointing out how the army routinely refused soldiers clothing supplies but had spent thousands on a redundant gate. 

The video had not been intended for public consumption, argued the lawyers. Worse, Schembri was being punished twice for the same offence, having been internally disciplined and then later discharged.

The lawyers argued that AFM commander Brigadier Jeffrey Curmi had violated the principle of fair hearing by deciding, as the person criticised in the video, to discipline Schembri himself. The Brigadier’s handling of the situation “certainly falls within the parameters for judicial review under Article 469A of Chapter 12,” they said.

The protest calls upon the Brigadier to reverse his decision to terminate Schembri’s employment or be held liable in damages.

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