The soon-to-be vacated Hall of the House of Parliament has seen and heard many events since it was converted from the Armoury of the Order (some terrible speeches in the early 1980s come to mind) but what happened this week really takes the cake.
On Wednesday, Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli made clear references to PN MP Paula Mifsud Bonnici as she discussed stalking in parliament, suggesting that the MP – as the perpetrator of harassment in a case dating back to 2003 – was in need of help.
Eleven years ago, Dr Mifsud Bonnici – then a Hamrun local councillor – had been investigated over a number of threatening SMSs, as well as numerous phone calls, made to Parliamentary Secretary Justyne Caruana, then a newly-elected MP.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici had admitted to being behind the SMS and phone calls when she was summoned to the police headquarters: the case did not proceed in court after Dr Caruana and her then-boyfriend Silvio Valletta – now her husband – accepted Dr Mifsud Bonnici’s apology.
Dr Dalli was discussing proposed amendments to the Criminal Code, which adds a number of articles concerning harassment and stalking, when she brought up the 2003 case. She did not mention any names, but her detailed explanation of the incident left no doubt as to the case she was referring to. She also stressed that the case was in the public record.
She pointed out that the victim was a colleague of hers – a woman – who had received some 60 calls a day as well as threatening SMSs.
Dr Dalli also noted that the perpetrator – another woman – was not someone who could not have known better due to the circumstances they found themselves in, pointing out that she had a professional background.
After noting that the incident had left her colleague greatly shaken, she emphasised that she believed that the perpetrator “needs help.”
“Whoever receives these calls will go crazy… but the one who makes them has something wrong with them and is in need of help,” she said, before adding that the perpetrators of such harassment had to ask themselves why they were hurting their victims.
We see absolutely no call for dragging up this particular case from the undoubtedly hundreds if not thousands of others involving stalking, cases which did not end in an apology like this one did. It was a misjudgement on the part of the minister to refer to this case again when the parties involved resolved the issue a long time ago.
Does the Minister for Civil Liberties really believe that civil liberties are obtained by dragging up cases which had been forgotten by many (though perhaps not by those involved) and in which the protagonists are known and public figures?
Did Minister Dalli consult Parliamentary Secretary Caruana or at least inform her before mentioning the case or was this dragging up of the past a shock for Dr Caruana as it must have been for Dr Mifsud Bonnici?
This case has been surfacing in various corners of national life over the years and this episode shows once again it will not be buried. The parties must take cognisance of this and act accordingly.
Evil is bad and can never be condoned, but the reality of evil is only made worse by repeating what happened in the past instead of trying to rebuild bridges.