“Then he threatened me and my family. This was captured on video.” 

“I went cold. I went mute. Had it not been for his wife, who intervened and told him not to do stupid things, I don’t know what would have happened.”

The incident allegedly erupted over an argument as to whether a man who was complaining of pain in his chest, arm and abdomen should be taken to hospital. 

The patient wanted to go, but the Malta Red Cross team allegedly told the crew, which works for Alpha Medical, no as an ambulance was already on its way.

The patient ended up going with them and when the ambulance returned, Brincau confronted the team.

Brincau allegedly threatened the ambulance crew with a handgun, due to a suspected rivalry with the Malta Red Cross, where Brincau was director.

Worryingly, a nearby police officer did not intervene. With the crew taking the report to the Qawra police station.

The crew only recognised it was Brincau once their boss saw the video. They filed the report before even knowing it was Brincau.

However, Brincau’s lawyers deny the claims insisting that it is a false report.

Still, a nurse seemed to confirm Doublet’s version of events. 

“He walked up and head-butted him and obviously [the driver] hit back at him with his fist. Robert then pulled a pistol out of the back of his shorts with his right hand and pointed it at the driver’s head. At that moment, I froze. The patient I had been treating also saw what happened. Then a woman came and separated the men and he put the pistol away,” she said.

“I didn’t feel safe at all at that point and I started filming on the ambulance’s mobile phone.”

Brincau has been charged with slight bodily harm, threatening a man with a weapon, insulting and threatening the man, carrying an unlicensed firearm in public, being armed during the commission of an offence and breaching the peace.

Brincau’s lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell pressed Doublet on what the gun model was. He said he did not remember but knew it was a 9mm.

It was also revealed that there had been previous incidents between Alpha Medical and the Malta Red Cross.

“If the patient tells us he wants to go to Mater Dei, we take him to Mater Dei. But the supervisor insisted that he had to call an ambulance from Mater Dei. The Red Cross supervisor didn’t want to let us take the patient.”

Brincau replaced Alex Dalli as Prison Director last year. Home Affairs Minister has said he will not take action against Brincau despite the criminal charges.

What do you think of the case?