Schembri Family Raises Concern As Funds Flow In For Heroic Police Officer Involved In Luqa Hit-And-Run
Following the brutal hit-and-run in Luqa earlier this week that left one police officer with severe injuries and a 17-year-old facing a slew of charges, many have called for funds to be raised for officer Simon Schembri.
One GoFundMe page, set up by Andrew Briffa, has already raised nearly €3,000 in less than 24 hours. However, the family have put out a message asking for people to hold onto any donations they might want to give.
“Whilst the heartfelt generosity of the people is being appreciated greatly, it is the wish of the Schembri family that for now no monetary collections are held unless they have the express consent of Simon Schembri’s wife, Moira Schembri, and no consent has yet been given as we are still at a very premature stage,” said Herman Mula, who is administering on behalf of the family, in a public statement.
Lovin Malta spoke to Mr Mula to see what people should do if they want to help the Schembri family
“We want to be clear – we are not condemning anyone who is collecting funds for the Schembri family. The family are overwhelmed with the response they’ve received from the public – it is times like these that prove what heart the Maltese have,” he said.
“However, we don’t want to request charity when we don’t know if we will actually need it. We want to wait just a little bit, and if there is a decision to request this funding we will be doing a single, independent account and we will be requesting people who took the initiative to raise funds for Simon to send the funds to this account,” he said.
Mr Mula said that anyone who’s collected money should keep it for now until more information is obtained and a decision is made.
He also said that, in the case that the Schembri family do not need the money, they would prefer seeing it go to others.
“There may be other people who need it more, if we don’t need it, the family will decide who needs the money,” he said.
The family will be releasing a press statement in the coming days.
Simon Schembri is currently recovering in hospital after being dragged for metres on the bonnet of an unlicensed grey Mercedes Benz, before having his body dropped on the street, run over, and left for dead.
He received multiple serious injuries, included a collapsed lung, but his condition has stabilised.
The underage driver responsible for the hit-and-run has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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