Former archpriest of the Cathedral parish, Mgr Joe Vella Gauci, was awarded Lm1,000 last week in a libel case he instituted against the former president of the La Stella Band Club, Dolindo Cassar.

The case relates to an article by Mr Cassar entitled “Letting off of fireworks from the Citadel”, published in The Times of 19 July 1999.

Just days before the annual feast of St George, harsh controversy had erupted between the two divided parishes of Victoria on the advisability or otherwise of letting off fireworks from the Citadel bastions.

Mgr Vella Gauci had argued that the letting off of fireworks was damaging the Citadel while Mr Cassar said he had the necessary permits and that the kind of fireworks being let off would cause no damage.

However, in his article in The Times, Mr Cassar had claimed that powerful fireworks had been let off from the area known as Tal-Klieb during Mgr Vella Gauci’s installation ceremony, that unauthorized work had been done in the cathedral to install a lift and that MEPA had objected to this, that aluminium apertures had been affixed to Cathedral openings, and that Mgr Vella Gauci was in some way connected to the removal of rooms at Tal-Klieb and the campaign for a parking space there at the time of the last election.

Mgr Vella Gauci denied that powerful petards had been let off during his installation ceremony, that alterations to the cathedral fabric were not part of his remit and that MEPA had issued no enforcement notice, and that he was not responsible for the demolition of rooms.

Mr Cassar chose to present some counter-arguments and to rest his case with a declaration on oath but provided no proof of what he had claimed.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Dr A Micallef Trigona, found Mr Cassar guilty of libelling Mgr Vella Gauci.