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14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 APRIL 2021 NEWS Liam Debono wants moral damages ahead of murder trial MATTHEW AGIUS THE joyrider accused of the at- tempted murder of a police of- ficer in a 2018 hit-and-run has demanded moral damages in a fair trial complaint. Liam Debono, who is awaiting trial for the attempted murder of PC Simon Schembri whom he ran over in 2018, has filed a constitutional application arguing that his right to a fair trial has already been breached, demanding moral damages. Debono, 20, is currently serv- ing a five-year prison sentence for breaching probation, and a driving ban whilst on bail for maiming a police officer with his car in a hit-and-run inci- dent. But he has now made two complaints about his right to a fair hearing in the case he filed against the State Advocate. In the court application filed by lawyer Joe Brincat on Friday, Debono accused his former le- gal counsel of "not wanting to appear for him and refusing or dilly-dallying in granting him release so that he could engage someone else." No other lawyer wanted to take over the brief to do so, as this would be a breach of the Code of Ethics. Brincat later took on the case pro bono. For a time after being dropped by his lawyer, Debono had been assisted by legal aid counsel, but this was limited to hearings before the Court of Magistrates and had no authorisation to file an appeal, he said. This, Brincat stated, deprived Debono of the possibility of fil- ing an appeal against his prison sentence. The accused had also not received a fair trial in the case where he was accused of breaching probation argued the lawyer, as "this brought with it the presumption of guilt, rath- er than innocence." Debono is awaiting trial for the attempted murder of po- lice constable Simon Schembri in 2018. Schembri was nearly killed when he was run over by the then underage driver, suffering a collapsed lung and fractures to his pelvis and ribs. Schembri's right arm had to be amputated below the elbow as a result of the injuries sus- tained. The officer also suffered se- vere friction burns from his cheek down to his abdomen from having been dragged for a considerable distance by the silver Mercedes that the mo- torist was allegedly driving. The shocking case received wall to wall media coverage at the time. Brincat argued that in Malta issues of fundamental human rights can be also raised in an- ticipation of a breach. The lawyer submitted that his client was also the subject of a "media bombardment" and his case had been commented on extensively by both journalists and online readers. He pointed out that in Italy there is a pro- cedure whereby if a certain lev- el of public animosity towards an accused person is reached, that person would be tried in a different internal jurisdiction, but said that this was not pos- sible in Malta. It was important that poten- tial jurors are not negatively influenced by what they have read and heard "with a certain insistence," Brincat said, add- ing that this applied in par- ticular to circumstances where before the jury begins, news- papers and other news outlets are made aware and so make an emphasis on the upcoming trial. It was useless to have a learned judge keeping himself free from prejudice when jurors are being influenced against the accused, he said. Brincat said that he himself was being careful not to men- tion in his application, details which the press would then pounce upon. "The right to freedom of expression is sub- ject also to restrictions that are the rights of third parties and their protection. Amongst these protected rights is that of a fair trial. You cannot have a fair trial where the circum- stances of the incident with which Liam Debono is being accused is being continuously hammered on about." For these reasons, he asked the court to declare a breach of the right to a fair trial and a breach to the right of appeal in criminal matters and provide a remedy, together with moral damages. The lawyer also asked the court to "preventively de- clare" that the accused would probably not receive a fair trial due to the prejudices built up against him and for the court to provide for this according- ly so as to prevent a further breach of his fundamental hu- man rights. Liam Debono, arrested in 2018 after the hit-and-run and attempted murder on Simon Schembri Heirs try to prevent house from Catholic Action possession MATTHEW AGIUS AZZJONI Kattolika Maltija has won a lawsuit over a disputed property in Birkir- kara after a court declared it had not breached a condition on which the prop- erty was being left to it in a will. The Catholic organisation had filed the case against the heirs of Emanuel Far- rugia, who had left his property to the Catholic Action. But his heirs refused to relinquish possession of the property in Notabile Road. Madam Justice Joanne Vella Cuschieri hear how before his death, Farrugia had left Azzjoni Kattolika a legacy consist- ing of a house, back garden and garage, as well as the airspace above it in a bid to secure himself a room at the Dar Sagra Familja in Naxxar, a home for the elderly run by the Catholic archdiocese. The man's universal heirs had prelimi- narily argued that Azzjoni Kattolika had no legal personality and could not file such a case. It was not even a registered organisation at law, they claimed. The legacy was conditional and the condition had not been satisfied at the time of the testator's death. The court however observed that the or- ganisation's statute had been approved by the Ecclesiastical authorities since 1965 according to Canon Law. It had also re- cently registered itself with the Commis- sioner for Voluntary Organisations. Although it noted that the organisation was legally registered long after the fil- ing of the case, the court said it did feel it should non-suit the defendants, as even before its registration, Azzjoni Kattolika had a juridical personality. The case centred around a disputed con- dition in the will, and whether the prop- erty would still be left as a legacy to the organisation, if the testator did not need to be admitted to a home for the aged. But there were two completely conflict- ing versions of what Emanuel Farrugia wanted at the end of his life. The defend- ants insisted that when he was in need and asked to be admitted to the home he was not given a place, while the plaintiffs claimed they had offered a place to Far- rugia several times but he always said it wasn't the right time. From the way he was described, Farru- gia was a shy and scrupulous man who didn't want to bother anyone. He want- ed a single room with a bathroom when the time came for him to be admitted to a home for the elderly, precisely because of this, the judge said. The testator's wish was only to become a resident at the home if the need arose. He stipulated that even if he didn't go to the home, the leg- acy should still pass to Azzjoni Kattolika. In the last months of his life when Far- rugia was in hospital, none of Farrugia's family had made contact with the home, the judge noted. The court said it was not convinced of the defendants' argument that the plaintiffs had refused a room to the testator during his life when the ev- idence showed that none of the family members had personally made direct contact with the home to see whether it was true that his wishes were being dis- regarded. On the other hand, the plaintiff's ver- sion was corroborated by documents and a witness. It was Farrugia's decision not to go reside at the home, said the court, even though his failing health required it. The court ordered the defendants to relinquish possession of the property, in- cluding its back garden and an adjacent garage to Azzjoni Kattolika. The court however denied the plaintiff's request to evict the defendants from the property as this demand was only briefly mentioned by the plaintiff and because no evidence to show any of the defendants were pres- ently occupying it had been submitted.