Magistrate furious at noise pollution inertia

“A coward’s mentality” is how Magistrate Ian Farrugia described the authorities’ inertia towards noise pollution from St Julian’s entertainment establishments. He made the strongly-worded statement while presiding over a case filed against the operators of various Paceville establishments accused of generating noise pollution to the detriment of residents. Magistrate Farrugia appealed directly to the Prime Minister to get his ministries together to solve the problem. The authorities, he added, were instead wasting time on reports and studies, dumping the responsibility on the courts instead of taking action themselves. He ordered the court sitting minutes to be sent directly to the Prime Minister, to the Home Affairs Minister, the Justice Minister and the Police Commissioner. Magistrate Farrugia said he had been presiding over the St Julian’s district sittings for the past four years, noting the court was inundated with cases of noise pollution. “Instead of taking swift and effective action as dictated by law, many entities instead preferred to waste time on studies and reports, allowing the situation to deteriorate to the point where the issue is dropped into the court’s lap…...