The super mega fraudster and sadistic Psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri
With extensive documented evidence, more than enough for a long time, I present the case of Joseph Spiteri, Vice Chairman of Psychiatry, whose actions raise serious ethical and professional concerns. Yet, no one has dared to act. Were all reports to the Ombudsman, the Police, and other authorities in vain? Thanks to his powerful connections, he continues to enjoy total impunity.
Sometime in the year 2024, it happened that a patient who had previously spent time in prison ended up in the same Male Ward 1 as me. Noticing that I was almost always holding a book or a pen, he confided in me, asking whether he had made the right decision in allowing them to label him as mentally ill to avoid spending nearly the rest of his life in prison. He still had many pending court cases, not to mention the legal fees they would entail.
I told him that he would likely end up being prescribed some kind of injection, perhaps every fortnight, so that when he appeared before that typical fake tribunal, magistrate, or judge, they would be more "favorable" to his requests.
Having gained his trust, I later asked him about an article on Simon Mercieca's blog, which mentioned that psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri had been dismissed from his role as a prison psychiatrist because inmates were paying him large sums of money to get them boarded out and even declared unfit for incarceration.
The following is a transcript of our conversation, translated into English:
Me: Is it true what Simon Mercieca wrote: that (Psychiatrist Joseph) Spiteri was sacked from his role in the prison because inmates were paying him large sums of money to get boarded out?
Patient: Yes, and they still do. Spiteri is some kind of head here at Mount Carmel Hospital.
Me: No, Spiteri is the Vice Chairman. Above him is Anton Grech as Chairman. Do you know how much they used to pay him?
Patient: Around €5,000.
This patient had possibly given a sum of money to Psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri, who, perhaps with the help of other fraudulent psychiatrists, submitted the usual fake court report (perizja) to have him declared mentally ill. In the meantime, the patient still attended some court sittings, where he mentioned that "Spiteri was there (testifying) / Kien hemm Spiteri."
The next step would likely have been for the patient to pay Spiteri even more "big money" to be boarded out, granting him freedom and the luxury of living like a prince, sustained by social benefits, all at the taxpayers' expense.
If Silvio Grixti was charged (though rest assured, it will most likely be a farce, and he won’t spend a single day in jail) for fraudulently granting people access to social benefits in exchange for votes to keep his corrupt Socialist party / Government in power, then Psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri is guilty of an even greater fraud. He commits perjury, gives false testimony, and submits fake reports, possibly with the help of other psychiatrists in our mafia-controlled courts, to have criminals falsely labeled as mentally ill. With a mere stroke of a pen and no scientific evidence as has always been in Psychiatry, he helps them avoid prison or get released from it.
But Spiteri doesn’t stop there. Using his long-standing fraudulent profession of Psychiatry, he takes things a step further by ensuring these same criminals also gain access to social benefits. A criminal and fraudster himself, Spiteri allows himself to be bribed, not only freeing these individuals but also securing them financial compensation, essentially repaying them for the "big money" they originally paid him for his services. And all of this, once again, is funded by taxpayers.
At the end of the day, it's a win-win situation for everyone involved (forgetting for a moment the injections these individuals might be prescribed along the way), except, of course, for the public / taxpayer.
The following is a transcript of the conversation, originally spoken in Maltese:
Jien: Veru dak li kiteb Simon Mercieca li (l-Psikjatra Joseph) Spiteri kienu nehhewh minn Psikjatra tal-habs ghax il-habsin kienu qed ituh somma tajba biex jghaddihom board?
Pazjent: Iwa u ghadhom. Spiteri hu xi l-Kap t'hawn.
Jien: Le Spiteri hu l-Vici Chairman. Fuqu hemm Anton Grech Chairman. U taf kemm kienu jtuh?
Pazjent: Xi €5,000.
A prime example of a patient who successfully passed both steps with flying colors is a certain DL. According to the government’s eCourts portal, he has no fewer than 21 court cases listed under his name, namely: [ 08/01/2020 (69/2014), 05/08/2015 (413/2013), 06/03/2014 (277/2012), 19/02/2014 (351/2007), 04/12/2013 (45/2006), 27/09/2013 (27/2010), 05/02/2013 (1337/2011), 27/11/2012 (208/2012), 05/10/2012 (1105/2008), 26/06/2012 (104/2004), 26/06/2012 (1051/2008), 02/12/2011 (715/2011), 28/10/2011 (851/2010), 25/05/2011 (97/2011), 02/06/2010 (22/2010), 13/04/2010 (55/2008), 20/12/2007 (1336/2006), 01/06/2006 (528/2006), 23/02/2006 (703/2005), 20/10/2005 (249/2005), 29/03/2005 (378/2005) ].
The five cases marked in bold (those in which DL was sentenced from December 2013 onward), saw the intervention of psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri. As is always the case in Psychiatry, with a simple stroke of a pen and without any scientific evidence, Spiteri fraudulently labeled DL as suffering from “Borderline Personality Disorder" (cases 277/2012, 45/2006). This diagnosis conveniently saved him from repeated prison sentences, allowing him to be transferred to Mount Carmel Hospital instead.
Thanks to Joseph Spiteri and the systematic fraud within Psychiatry, DL transformed from a ruthless, unscrupulous criminal into a so-called "mental patient" deserving of pity. His pending court cases were dismissed under the excuse of "mental insanity," (thus shielding him from prosecution for both pending cases and future crimes). Instead of facing justice, he received Social Benefits (from paying for his crimes, to getting paid with Social Benefits), living comfortably at taxpayers' expense. In the meantime he enjoyed hospital leave, even fathering a child with a woman some said had Down syndrome or some other mental illness (he boasts that Spiteri was on vacation in Spain at the time, where he bought him clothes for the baby), only to later abandon her for that umpteenth one. Meanwhile, despite supposedly being "unfit for work," he sometimes held jobs, with all the blessing of Spiteri, while likely collecting extra social benefits under this false pretense of being “unfit" by Spiteri in the first place.
DL’s criminal activities also evolved. While he once defrauded and stole from individuals and companies, amassing numerous court cases, when later was transferred to Mount Carmel Hospital he turned to exploiting and defrauding vulnerable patients, imbeciles, and the mentally disabled, possibly on an even larger scale. Through it all, Psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri protected him with the fraudulent label of "mental insanity," preventing further legal consequences, instead of serving long prison sentences and many many more years jailed.
DL continued his cycle, say borrowing money from one person / patient to pay what he had borrowed from another, operating a sort of Ponzi scheme. And if someone finally demanded repayment, all it might take to silence them was a threat or obscene language from DL.
In May 2024, Psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri was forced to transfer DL from the Halfway House to Male Ward 1 for about ten days due to comments he made about MEP David Casa. In that ward, DL encountered one of his victims, patient JPD, whom he had previously scammed out of approximately €650 with the false promise that he would speak to Psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri (“inkellimlek lil Spiteri") to help get him discharged from Mount Carmel Hospital. This could have been something DL regularly did with inmates while in prison, acting as an intermediary to Spiteri in exchange for money to have them boarded out.
A few days later, some patient stole JPD’s smartphone from the MW1 clinic, possibly intending to sell it to DL, who was at the time looking for a cheap second-hand phone.
On the day after Christmas 2024, psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri was once again forced to transfer DL to Male Ward 1, as if to appear to have taken some action. DL had stolen approximately €8,000 from a patient's credit card after the victim foolishly trusted him with the PIN. And if he committed such crimes (this and of patient JPD) when the bank transaction could so easily be traced, imagine the even worse things he did to those from whom he borrowed money by word of mouth.
While in MW1, DL approached me, asking how long my restriction of freedom of communication order had lasted. I told him it had been a full five and a half months, simply "for writing against Spiteri and asking them to investigate him." He instantly burst into laughter, mocking me and adding, "And also for writing about me." (See him mentioned in the same link above.)
Rewinding to 2015, by that time, DL was already enjoying days out at Dar Frate Jacoba in Marsascala (see link below). He had by then been conveniently rebranded as a "mental patient" in that staged spectacle resembling the typical messa ‘n scena you’d expect in a nonsensical Maltese TV drama series. During this period, he reportedly went on a supposed hunger strike (perhaps say from lunch until dinner), as detailed in an article at the time. Notably, the article's URL included the phrase “Mount-Carmel-patient-continues-hunger-strike-as-we-await-investigations-ON-ALLEGED-CORRUPTION", yet the word corruption was conveniently omitted from the actual text.
The article reported that DL’s leave privileges had been revoked by consultant psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri, who, according to DL, "used his power according to who was able to pay," while those who couldn't afford to pay were "threatened."
Here, DL was indirectly referring to the well-known scam (namely, the case mentioned above on Simon Mercieca’s blog more than six years later, showing how long the scam had been ongoing without anyone taking action. When Colonel Dalli finally dared to act, they found an excuse to dismiss him. Meanwhile, Psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri enjoys complete impunity): inmates seeking Spiteri’s fraudulent help had to visit him privately (if they were out on bail) or send relatives on their behalf (“send them to speak to me" / “ibghathom ikellmuni"), in other words, they had to be able to pay an endless stream of additional fees for his ongoing fraudulent services. By then, DL had likely already paid Spiteri a significant sum, but Spiteri’s insatiable greed kept pushing for more. Frustrated by this never-ending extortion, DL, himself a fraudster, found himself becoming the victim of fraud. This frustration likely led him to lash out, indirectly threatening to expose more of Spiteri’s corrupt practices if his demands weren’t met.
It’s no surprise that the article mentions the intervention of another fraudster, Psychiatrist Anton Grech, he too had much to lose. And, as expected, most probably no investigation ever took place, not even by then-Commissioner for Mental Health John Cachia put in the job to cover-up crimes of Psychiatrists. Nor was there any need to discredit DL’s claims by attributing them to his supposed Borderline Personality Disorder, because DL and the psychiatric mafia both knew the truth: fraudsters never expose each other when they all have something to lose.
One has to admit DL had a troubled youth, which led to prison at a young age, where bad company may have only deepened his criminal tendencies. Yet, by mingling with the 'mafia' of psychiatry and fraudsters like Spiteri, he may have become an even greater fraudster himself, following their example - especially as he saw himself as a victim of such fraud, even though it ultimately benefited him in the long run. After all, DL knows well Spiteri cannot point fingers at him or punish him, as when it comes to fraud, DL only does the basics, while for the others, being fraudsters is practically part of their profession in Psychiatry.
Yet another patient whom Psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri fraudulently labeled as mentally ill, to save him more days locked in prison, is a certain Patient X. When transferred to Male Ward 7 in the last month or two of 2022, he exhibited aggressive behavior, frequently shouting and offending not only patients but also some staff members.
On Saturday, 17-Dec-22, during one of the last World Cup matches, he went into a frenzy, attacking another patient, RG, by repeatedly punching him in the neck from behind. A doctor was called, not for RG, but for Patient X, as he had punched RG so severely that he ended up bleeding from his hand. Despite this, Patient X continued threatening to have his revenge on and kill RG, even with the help of his cousins (recording), prompting RG to request a transfer to another ward for his own safety, which was granted. Staff members filed an incident report and inquired with Psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri about whether they should also report the matter to the Police. However, Spiteri covered up for Patient X, falsely attributing his actions to mental illness and not even daring to transfer him to another ward or take any punitive action. This supposed "insanity" did not prevent Spiteri from beginning to grant him leave the very next week to go with his relatives outside the hospital.
The incident was later reported in an email sent to the CEO of Mount Carmel Hospital by third parties who couldn’t stand the cover-up of crime used by Psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri in handling the matter. As a result, some action was taken: Patient X was transferred and placed in Seclusion for three months until 8-Apr-23. Later he was transferred to MW1, where he appeared completely transformed, always in a happy mood. Eventually, Psychiatrist Spiteri resumed granting him leave and later transferred him to Halfway House.
As from 25-Feb-24 patient RG, who in the meantime was discharged living in some Home, ended on the Malta Police missing persons list (see also articles on media: 1, 2). Had Psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri allowed the staff to report the matter to the Police instead of covering up for Patient X, he would have for sure been a person of interest, by now it’s probably already too late to investigate any possible links.
As mentioned in the said email, “who is now going to shoulder responsibility?"
Compare this to the cases of Nicolette Ghirxi and Bernice Cassar, who might not have been killed if the Police -in our case, Psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri - had acted immediately (I'm not saying that patient RG ended up being killed, but such an outcome could have occurred).
In the meantime, I, who have never caused problems, offended, stolen, defrauded, punched, or threatened anyone - was transferred from one ward to another and eventually locked in MW1, a ward known for housing patients with bad behavior. My only ‘offense’ was reporting abuses and requesting investigations. As a result, I was issued one restriction of freedom of communication order after another (rofocos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, …). For in Psychiatry, it is not the abuser who is seen as wrong, but the one who dares to report the abuse.
When I asked Psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri, on 6-Jun-24, to fraudulently entitle me to Social Benefits - at the start of six consecutive RoFoCos (5 ... 10), he replied: 'Tell me you are sick, and I will have them issued for you' (Għidli li int marid u noħroġhomlok). Three months later, on 6-Sep-24, when I asked him again, he made the excuse that he couldn't do anything because I was still officially employed but on sick leave. Instead, he gave me a letter, dated the same day, now suggesting - in a complete U-turn - that I should first have my employment terminated. Meanwhile, his firm continued issuing me the usual sick leave certificates to send to my supposed employer.
When I checked with the Social Benefits office, they told me that before asking to have my employment terminated and possibly start receiving Social Benefits, I would first need to be declared sick, unfit for work, or boarded out.
Now, compare this to that DL, who is not only allowed to go to work every now and then but also - despite having a criminal past and serving time in prison - was fraudulently deemed sick to qualify for a full range of Social Benefits at the same time!
Another interesting case is that of the notoriously corrupt and incompetent then-Deputy Police Commissioner Raymond Zammit. As one of the officers in charge of my case, he played a major role in framing me and carrying out character assassination to protect his reputation in what was arguably the most humiliating case in the history of the Malta Police Force.
At the time, he was also promoted to a position as a Prison Director. During the 99 days I spent locked in the Forensic Ward, he visited twice. About a year later, both of his sons - who were also police officers - came under investigation for irregularities and unethical practices, including their involvement in the Gaffarena-Zammit scandal. This was truly a case of "like father, like son," as they followed in his footsteps of incompetence and corruption, unworthy of the uniform they wore.
When the possibility arose that they might be expelled from the police force, both sons were conveniently and fraudulently "boarded out" under the usual fraudulent pretext of psychiatric illnesses. Suspiciously, this happened just before the inquiries into their misconduct were concluded, ensuring that they automatically qualified for a lifelong pension - something they would have lost if expelled. The Medical Board that assessed them clearly did not question whether they were actually suffering from mental illness or under the influence of any medication.
To make matters worse, one of his sons secured a lucrative job at the supposedly newly restructured Enemalta with that corrupt Frederick Azzopardi as CEO, just four days after being deemed unfit for work. His salary was an astonishing €60,000 - equivalent to the earnings of three or four regular workers. However, once the scandal became public, the job offer was revoked.
Now, let’s connect the dots: Raymond Zammit, promoted to Prison Director, likely had connections with psychiatrist Joseph Spiteri, who was involved in assessing prisoners. At the time, there were reports that inmates were paying large sums of money to fraudulently get "boarded out". Instead of investigating these fraudulent activities, Zammit seemingly participated in the scheme to benefit his corrupt sons. Psychiatry was weaponized once again in this case, allowing individuals to avoid consequences for their actions, falsely claim mental illness, and fraudulently gain access to social benefits and police pensions.