Former Army Captain Martin Galea broke his silence over his abduction earlier this week and gave an exclusive interview to this newspaper to set the record straight.

There was a lot of confusion about what had happened to Martin. The government first said that he had been abducted, when the PM made a statement in parliament about the case. Then, a government official backtracked and said that he had not been abducted and that the media had coined the term ‘abduction’.

But Martin was abducted, and how.  But we cannot understand the reasoning in first saying that he was abducted, then he wasn’t, and now he was. Perhaps Martin has the simple explanation. After Marisa Farrugia secured his release, he was taken to a friendly facility where he was locked up once more. But it was only afterwards that he learned that the Consul had ordered his protectors to lock him up for his own safety. That could be where the government got its wires crossed. Other sections of the media tried to shed doubt on Capt. Galea’s story. But it is only he who knows what he went through.

What we can say, with certainty, is that he was absolutely heartbroken at the way some sections of the media tried to portray his story and shed doubt on his ordeal without even checking with him to get his side of the story.

Mr Galea himself readily admits that he was very lucky to escape with cuts, bruises and lesions. But the terror that he experienced when he heard his captors plot his death, when they threatened to rape him on his birthday, when they stood him against a wall and fired shots at him will leave an indelible mark.

The government now says that there is no doubt that Martin suffered while in captivity. The media stunt that was set up when he arrived to be welcomed by the PM has backfired though. And this is probably because the government (or its spin advisors) underestimated the severity of Capt. Galea’s ordeal.

We should all learn from this. This was a very unfortunate incident and one that gripped the whole country. It was as if everyone was worrying about a friend who had been missing for over a week. One understands the government using prudence to make sure that Capt. Galea was not put in any danger. But the way the aftermath was handled still makes no sense. Was it because the government was not correctly informed of what was going on? But even so, Capt. Galea – fastidious and meticulous in recounting what happened – was debriefed by the Security Services. Surely, after speaking to him for even 30 minutes, the debrief officials would have got a clear picture of what had taken place and updated the corridors of Castille without delay.

Luckily, Capt. Galea was not harmed and has returned safe and sound to his family. His family who should have been there to greet him on the tarmac at Luqa Airport as soon as he stepped out of the plane that brought him back to Malta.