The Times have dismissed journalist Matthew Bonanno, who was still on probation having joined the newspaper just months ago, in response to his perceived involvement in Nicola Abela Garrett’s widely publicised verbal attack on Transport Minister Austin Gatt.

Bonanno, a communications graduate and former editor of InsiterOnline.com, was revealed to have posted a comment on Nicola Abela Garrett’s Facebook wall the day before the incident occurred, informing her of the Minister’s visit to campus, in response to which Ms. Abela Garrett posted: “If you want, I can give you a great story tomorrow. Bring your notepad”.

However, the Minister’s visit, part of the launch of a new €250,000 ICT project on campus, had already been publicised in the Fresher’s Week programme of events issued by KSU, and Bonanno did not actually cover the event himself, having been assigned that morning to an address to the press by Resources Minister George Pullicino at Wied il-Kbir in Qormi.

In a statement posted on Facebook the journalist admitted that his comments on Facebook were “spectacularly naive, and mildly unprofessional”, but stressed that he played no part in the incident, ultimately having neither written the article, nor had any part in the way it was subsequently reported by The Times, which ran a photo of Ms. Abela Garrett the next day, with the caption: “Heroine who heckled Minister”.

He expressed his frustration at the manner in which events unfolded, stating: ”Even though I feel my sacking was harsh, I was still on probation and they were well within their rights to give me the boot. The only thing I was disappointed about was not being given the chance to explain myself or apologise, in person. I was of course asked to explain myself via email on Thursday, since I was off that day, but I kept it brief and intended to explain myself fully, in front of the editors, the next day. On Friday, after being left in the newsroom for about 2 hours, I was called to HR and told my probation was terminated with immediate effect. To be honest I didn’t give my side of things, seeing as I wasn’t asked to. I don’t beg.”

Support  for Mr. Bonanno has since flooded in, with his statement being shared and commented on all over the social networking site.