Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1471185
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 JUNE 2022 8 INTERVIEW Justice has to be done with policemen, too Last January, Darren Debono was sentenced to 10-and-a- half years for the 2010 Qormi bank-robbery; but as a result of a plea-bargaining agreement, he will not face any charges for the attempted murder of sev- eral police officers during the subsequent shoot-out. The MPU has now filed a judicial protest calling for the AG's resignation; but on what grounds, exactly? Isn't it the AG's legal preroga- tive, to resort to plea-bargain- ing in such cases? What we are questioning here is not the legal remit of the At- torney General – or the Police Commissioner, or anyone else – to resort to plea-bargaining, as a tool in the judicial process. There is no doubt that they have the full autonomy to take what- ever decisions they seem fit; and as a rule, we never react to such decisions. This is, in fact, the first time the Union has ever issued a statement with regard to this kind of decision; and we hope it is something that we will never have to do again. Because if so, it would be a clear signal that something is very wrong with the system… Another thing I want to make clear is that, as the Malta Police Union, it is not our business to get involved in criminal cases. We are not interested in 'en- suring that criminals get the justice they deserve': for that, there is the Police Force, and the law-courts… and even if we are, ourselves, policemen; I am here only to speak on behalf of the Union. And this is why we felt we had to make an exception, in this particular case. Because, as the Malta Police Union, it IS our business to ensure that justice is done – and is seen to be done – with our own members. So even if the AG has every right to enter into plea-bar- gaining agreements – and so too, by the way, does the per- son requesting the agreement; I wouldn't want anyone to think we are against the defendant availing of his or her rights, under law: in this, or any other case – we nonetheless feel that it was the wrong decision to take. After all, the AG had oth- er options at her disposal. She could, for instance, have offered a Presidential pardon… What difference would that have made, though? Wouldn't it still result in the defendant getting off scot-free? There is a difference. For one thing, the way it usually works is that the defendant first goes through all the processes of a le- gal trial. Then – in the event of a guilty verdict – he or she may be offered a pardon; as has hap- pened in other cases. The im- portant thing, however, is that there would at least have been a proper legal process, leading to a verdict: 'guilty', 'not guilty'… whatever the court decides. What we cannot accept, how- ever, is that there is no judicial process whatsoever. As if the whole incident just 'never even happened at all'… Another difference is that a Presidential pardon normally comes with conditions attached; so that at least, if the person concerned fails to abide by those conditions… there would be consequences. In this case, however: the charges against the defendant were entirely dropped, without any consequences at all. And this means that he [it-Topo] was never tried for the crime of attempted murder, in a court of law; and he can never be tried for the same crime again, either. As such, the State has no more tools at its disposal, in this case. So with the AG's decision, the case has simply been closed: without any trial, without a ver- dict having been reached; and without justice having been served. And bear in mind that we are talking about here is a very seri- ous crime. It's not as though this person was charged with 'caus- ing a disturbance in public'; or 'damaging a car', or 'getting in- volved in a brawl', or anything like that. He was charged with 'opening fire on several police officers, in their line of duty'. And as far as I know: there has never been a case as serious as this, where the charges were simply dropped, just like that. But the Presidential pardon was only one of the other op- tions that could have been con- sidered. Even if we concede that plea-bargaining was a valid tool to use, in this instance… why drop THAT charge, of all the ones on the charge-sheet? Be- cause I imagine there would have been quite a few other charges, in a case like this. I don't have access to the charge- sheet myself, so I can't tell you exactly what the others were… I think it's safe to say that 'armed robbery' would have been one; as well as all the usu- al minor charges… 'conspiracy to commit a crime', 'unlawful firearms possession', etc. Precisely. So my point is: if the intention was to reach a plea-bargain, in order to get the defendant to testify in another case; or plead guilty on anoth- er charge… there were other, less serious charges they could have used as bargaining-chips instead. But no: they dropped the most serious charge on the charge-sheet: the one which literally put the lives of police officers most at risk… and what sort of message does that send, The Malta Police Union has come out strongly against the Attorney General's decision to drop all attempted homicide charges against Darren Debono (aka It- Topo), in exchange for a guilty plea in the 2010 HSBC heist case. MPU president ALEX SCHEMBRI explains why this was a 'slap in the face' of an already demoralised Police Force Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt