Man on trial for human trafficking - migrants allegedly died in bid to leave Malta

A jury was told this morning how a dozen immigrants who had been trying to leave Malta in March 2006 ended up swimming back to Cirkewwa after the speedboat which was taking them away broke down and was abandoned. Some migrants failed to reach land and died. Lawyer Lara Lanfranco from the Attorney General's Office delivered her statement on the case at the opening of the trial of Gordon Dimech, 36, from Ħamrun, who is pleading not guilty to human smuggling when he allegedly helped migrants to leave the island. In the bill of indictment, the Attorney General said that the accused had helped the migrants to leave aboard a speedboat. He was allegedly paid some €5,800. Dr Lanfranco, from the Attorney General's Office, said the police interviewed four migrants when they were found in Cirkewwa in March 2006, and they explained how they had actually been trying to leave Malta and not come in. They said they had bought a boat from some Maltese but it sank in rough seas as they left Malta. Some migrants died but others survived. Two of the migrants said that they had already unsuccessfully tried to leave three months previously, in December. In that case, they bought a boat and left from...