Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1037099
NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 OCTOBER 2018 O M M AUTO LEASING Media partners MATTHEW AGIUS A murderer who won the right to apply for parole in a land- mark ruling by the Constitu- tional court, has been allowed to have his time in custody since his original sentence, be taken as counting towards his parole instead of it being measured from the date of his appeal. Brian Vella, found guilty by a jury in 2007 of murdering his elderly neighbours, was con- demned to life imprisonment, a punishment confirmed on appeal in 2011. Vella had gagged and bound 79-year-old Gerald Grima and his 63-year-old wife Josephine in their apartment on 10 Feb- ruary, 2000. The elderly cou- ple had died of asphyxiation. As a result of the ruling, Brian Vella will now serve 25 years, less the four years he spent in custody between 2007 and 2011, before becom- ing eligible for parole. Vella's lawyers, David Camilleri and Joseph Gatt, had called on the court to uphold the judgment in the main part and change the date from which the 25-year quali- fying period for parole starts, counting to the date of his ar- rest or, failing that, to the date of his original sentence. Quoting European human rights case-law, the lawyers said that it was clear that pa- role boards – which can re- lease prisoners back into the community on strict condi- tions – were tied to periods of incarceration and not dates of sentencing. In the judgment handed down on Friday by Chief Jus- tice Joseph Azzopardi, judge Giannino Caruana Demajo and judge Noel Cuschieri, the Constitutional Court ruled that in this case, there were none of the exceptional cir- cumstances to merit Vella's eligibility for parole after 25 years being measured from the time of his arrest, as had been originally requested. But it said that he was justified in his demand that the 25-year period be counted from the date of his sentence by the Criminal Court and not that of the Court of Criminal Ap- peal. Life-sentenced murderer Brian Vella wins parole battle 27 • 67 • 13 • 7 • 32 1 • 87 • 52 06-10-2018 Draw No: 744