Iconic Mellieħa Tribute Bench Gets Destroyed By Vandals
A tribute bench at the Torri l-Aħmar area built in memory of Mellieħa resident Anita Gray was destroyed by vandals.
The bench, built by Gray’s family, read “Please enjoy the view, peace, and tranquility. Cherish loved ones and those closest to you. Enjoy life.”
Mellieħa councillor Gabriel Micallef was amongst the first to condemn this action.
“This isn’t an isolated case, we’ve also seen bus shelters and signs getting vandalised,” Micallef told Lovin Malta.
“When you look at this as a continuous issue, it’s actually pretty alarming.”
A few months ago, the Mellieħa police station closed down as the village adopted a community-centric policing approach.
“Mellieħa can be seen as a case study for community policing – in our case it was a success,” Micallef continued.
“But with the police station closed, we end up relying on four foot-patrolling police officers and the Qawra police station.”
Local trekker Keith Marshall also took to Facebook to mourn the loss of this heartfelt monument.
“This bench was bestowed to the public by a husband in honour of his deceased wife, ‘Nutty’ asking us to enjoy the view,” Marshall wrote.
“His eulogy was beautiful, simple yet clad in emotion. I would stop by with the trekking gang every time to share the words and spend a minute or two in contemplation.”
“You have to be a special kind of asshole to reduce it to this.”
Many people shared Marshall’s sentiments towards this act, with his post amassing around 400 reactions and tens of shares in a couple of hours.