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AFM Officer And Brother Who Entered Pembroke School To Beat Up ‘Racist Bully’ Remanded In Custody

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This week’s shocking story of a parent-filled brawl in a Pembroke secondary school that left one student hospitalised with head injuries and two educators at a polyclinic has taken an unexpected turn after one of the adults involved in the fight turned out to be a senior AFM officer.

Staff Sergeant Alexander Camilleri and his brother Feliciano Camilleri were remanded in custody after pleading not guilty to charges of attacking and slightly injuring a 15-year-old student, as well as attacking and slightly injuring two educators, threatening and insulting them, using obscene language in public, breaching the peace and exceeding the limits of provocation.

The Camilleris are related to a 13-year-old boy who, according to the defendant’s defence lawyer, was being attacked by an older “racist bully”

It had been reported that one of the boys involved in the fight was Libyan, and that tensions between nationalities may have led to the fight.

“He was attacked by this 15-year-old boy who is over six feet tall,” defence lawyer Alfred Abela had said. “It was the 15-year-old who tried to attack the father of the child and the accused intervened to separate the fighting parties.”

While the defence requested bail for their clients, the prosecution objected, citing the gravity of the crime and saying that an AFM officer entering a school to attack a student and injuring teachers was “not acceptable in a democratic society”.

Dr Abela pointed out that Alexander Camilleri had only gone to the school because school administration had called him in as his son needed to be taken to hospital. He said his clients had not intended to hurt the educators when entering the school.

“The intention was not to injure teachers,” Abela said. “At the end of the day it was an incident, but the parameters to keep a person under arrest were not present. Strasbourg has repeatedly said that bail cannot be refused on gravity of the crime alone.”

His brother Feliciano Camilleri was also arraigned on similar charges. A protection order was issued for the entire staff of St. Clare’s College, as well as the parents of the child, while pointing out that anyone who breached the protection order would be punished by two years in prison and a €7,000 fine.

Bail was denied to both men, with the court saying it had to balance society’s protection with the rights of the accused.

What do you think of this case?

READ NEXT: Teenager Hospitalised With Head Injuries After Pembroke School Fight Between Maltese And Libyan Students

Johnathan is an award-winning Maltese journalist interested in social justice, politics, minority issues, music and food. Follow him at @supreofficialmt on Instagram, and send him news, food and music stories at [email protected]

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