The court will continue hearing a case instituted by Senglea residents regarding noise emanating from Palumbo Shipyard tomorrow afternoon to give the defence a chance to review the recordings of the noise taken by witness Paul McDonald.
He will be called back to the stand tomorrow to be further cross-examined by the defence lawyers – namely Dr. Abigail Bugeja, Dr. Kathleen Grima and Dr. Matthew Brincat along with two other residents which the first witness, Anna Spiteri, had to name at Magistrate Aaron Bugeja's insistence.
This case follows insistent reports made by two Senglea residents last Friday to the police about the intolerable disturbance to residents being made by the Palumbo shipyard, following which, on Saturday, the police opened a case against Palumbo's shipyard for causing excessive noise during the night of 28-29 January and preceding nights.
The noise coming from Palumbo Shipyards was essentially a constant, low, rumbling noise like a revving car engine according to witnesses Anna Spiteri and Paul McDonald, the latter also claiming it was a cross between a large idling car engine and a washing machine spin cycle.
Anna Spiteri, from the Senglea Residents' Association testified that the noises have been constant for at least five years. She also claimed medical proof that constant noise about 60db can cause various health issues such as high blood pressure which can eventually lead to heart attacks.
Mrs Spiteri also said that she did not know exactly where the noise was coming from, but she was quite sure that it was from Dock 5. When specifically asked by the defence if she could name the ship she claimed the 'generator' was on, she could not.
Magistrate Bugeja asked Mrs Spiteri to give names of other residents who spoke to her about not being able to sleep but she initially refused asking, "Isn't it enough that I have to suffer?" After the Magistrate explained the procedure to her reminding her that she is in the Criminal Court, not Civil Court, she gave up the names of the two people who will be called to the stand tomorrow. These are Jesmond Bonnici and Rita Vassallo.
Paul McDonald was then called to the stand after a mild uproar was raised at the fact that he was present for the first part of the case; however it was allowed by the Magistrate as Mr McDonald cannot understand a word of Maltese and couldn't, as such, understand any of the proceedings.
Mr McDonald had made three separate reports, one on 11 January, one in the very early hours of 29 January and another later in the day. He stated that he had taken three recordings to the police which he took on the 25th, the first showing sounds of "metal hammering on metal", the second recording or "sawing through metal" and another of loud noises thought to be from a generator.
Similar to Mrs Spiteri, Mr McDonald claimed to believe the noises were coming from Dock 6, however could not tell the court what the docked ship's name was, nor its registration number. Also similarly, he estimated that there were a total of 5 or 6 ships currently docked. When asked by the defence to give details of the duration of the sounds being heard from the shipyards, he said that between 31 December and 11 January he was hearing noises of metal work being done and from 23 January, the 'generator' noise started.
Magistrate Aaron Bugeja's final decision before suspending the court session was to order all ships to remain exactly where they are until further notice, to which all three of the defence lawyers objected heavily. Professor Joseph Agius, the appointed court expert, was then asked to go on site and take all necessary measurements and make all necessary calculations at night to facilitate the proceedings tomorrow. This will happen both at the shipyard itself, as well as the addresses of the residences mentioned.
Photo above is a file photo
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