MaltaToday s most read stories for 2020
From the coronavirus pandemic to Keith Schembri’s court testimony, from the sudden death of a Naxxar teenager to a double murder in Sliema, these are the top stories for 2020, according to MaltaToday s readers
24 December 2020, 3:00pm
by Kurt Sansone
Keith Schembri s testimony, Miriam Pace s death in a house collapse and the COVID-19 pandemic were among the stories most read on MaltaToday
In a year dominated by the coronavirus pandemic it is no surprise that 13 of the top 20 most read stories on MaltaToday were COVID-19 related.
But even if COVID-19 was a constant in our lives throughout 2020, other news events did manage to gain readers’ attention.
Two suspect drug-traffickers who were remanded in custody on Sunday were back in court on Monday for the first hearing in separate compilations of evidence.
They were arrested in a joint police operation over the weekend.
Dean Martin, 40, and Melvin Debono, 29, had been targeted in a weeks-long surveillance operation that culminated in a massive haul of drugs, cars, gold and cash, worth almost €800,000, at Paola on Saturday.
Debono had just regained his personal freedom on December 1, having landed under preventive custody in October in a separate arraignment wherein he had pleaded not guilty in a shooting incident in Senglea.
The man landed back under police suspicion over drug-related business involving Martin.
Tradition, religion and time spent with loved ones seem to be the key ingredients for a merry Christmas. Three Christmas enthusiasts tell
Christine Spiteri about why they love Christmas and how this year will be different.
Stephen Schembri - Florist
Stephen’s earliest Christmastime memory dates back to when he was six years old. His father would unpack the dusty Christmas tree and, on December 8, the whole family would dress it up in a mismatch of shiny baubles, little ornaments and strings of twinkling lights.
Stephen Schembri
“Looking back, it may not have been the most beautiful Christmas tree,” he recounts, “but the yearly ritual of the four of us coming together around the tree is probably when the seed was planted and my love for Christmas continued to bloom each year.”
A man was condemned to a two-year jail term suspended for four years and fined €20,000 on Wednesday after being convicted of mistreating 23 dogs. He was also ordered to pay costs of almost €5,000 to the Association for Abandoned Animals, the Animal Welfare Directorate and the courts.
The court heard how the dogs were found in squalor and in a state of neglect, living in their own waste. Some had not been electronically chipped as required by law. Some were kept in cages so small, they might have been good only for rabbits.
A veterinary report exhibited in court described the scene: The
A man was treated for smoke inhalation on Tuesday after a blaze in his apartment in Triq Meltinone Scerri, Hamrun.
The fire broke out in the early afternoon in the flat, part of a block of social housing. It was extinguished by fire-fighters of the Civil Protection Department.
The Social Housing Department said alternative accommodation had been offered to the tenants.
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