Court hears about cruelty, misappropriation in animal sanctuary

A volunteer at the Association for Abandoned Animals claimed in court today that the founder of the association, Freddie Fenech, used to keep a badly injured animal in his van so he could use it to solicit donations. Romina Formosa was testifying against Mr Fenech, who stands charged with misappropriation of AAA's funds. He is pleading not guilty. Ms Formosa said that she got to know about Mr Fenech from the media and, since she is an animal lover, she opted, 10 years ago, to do some voluntary work at the animal sanctuary run by AAA. She said she used to go to the sanctuary on Saturdays and created a membership scheme to collect money. They also set up a bank account where donations would be deposited for the AAA. However, she had noted that donations were not ending up in the account. For example, a German couple donated money for the replacement of a roof at the sanctuary. Mr Fenech bought some corrugated metal sheets but the new roof was not any better than the old one, and the rest of the money disappeared. Somebody else donated €600 for the purchase of food, but this too disappeared. Items such as food and tools also used to disappear. Money collected in charity tins was...