The government, with help from a local non-governmental organisation, is currently seeking the “proper formula, the best they can” to provide the aid needed for the victims of last month’s Ħal Far shooting, government sources have told The Malta Independent on Sunday.
Seven weeks since the shooting, questions have been raised as to whether the survivors are receiving the care to which they are entitled, following their ordeal, although the issue is being held up because they had arrived in Malta from Italy and, as such, it is currently unclear to what they are entitled in accordance with their current status in Malta.
Ibrahim Bah, from Guinea, and Mohammed Jallow, from Gambia, were shot on 6 April, moments after the alleged racially-motivated murder of Ivorian Lassana Cisse Souleymane by the now suspended AFM soldiers Lorin Scicluna and Francesco Fenech.
Sources said that the two victims have been contacted by the police and have been offered psychological support in accordance with the Victims of Crime Act.
An Office of the Prime Minister spokesperson told The Malta Independent on Sunday yesterday that the government is “committed to assisting both victims after the trauma they experienced”.
The spokesperson added: “At the moment their immediate health requirements are being monitored. The authorities are also reviewing their legal status in Malta.”
Scicluna and Fenech were charged with having killed Souleymane and seriously injuring Bah and Jallow. They were further charged with having used a weapon in the commissioning of a crime and firing a weapon in public.
The men were also accused of, on 1 February 2019, having tried to kill May Malimi, a Chadian migrant, in the same location. According to the charge sheet, the offence was also racially motivated.
Scicluna and Fenech were also accused of being in possession of racist material, killing a number of cats and birds, being in possession of an unlicensed air gun, dangerous driving and driving a car that bore no number plates.
Scicluna alone was charged with breaching the conditions of a conditional discharge.