Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1483693
WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 WEDNESDAY • 9 NOVEMBER 2022 • ISSUE 818 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY EDITORIAL • PAGE 11 PAGE 5 A judge will hear submissions from the Attorney General Victoria Buttigeg and State Advocate Chris Soler, who have requested that a case filed against them over the failure to prosecute senior figures at Pilatus Bank be heard behind closed doors, so as not to violate the confidenti- ality of linked proceedings before a secre- tive foreign court with which Malta has no treaties. The move comes after the Iranian owner of Pilatus Bank, Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad, launched an international legal bid to de- ter law enforcement authorities. Through the Hong Kong-based compa- ny Alpene Ltd, owned by Ali Sadr, an ur- gent request to suspend the proceedings in Malta was filed in front of the World Bank's International Centre for Settle- ment of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Judge to initially hear testimony behind closed doors Pilatus Bank nolle prosequi case School-bus driver who raped 8-year-old student has 11-year jail sentence confirmed by court MATTHEW AGIUS A court has confirmed the conviction of a school-bus driver who was convicted of having repeatedly sexually assaulted and raped an eight-year old girl in 2006. The man was sentenced to 11 years in prison after the Court of Criminal Ap- peal had sent the case back to the Court of Magistrates. James Grech, 40, from Qormi had originally been found guilty in 2020 and sentenced to 12 years in prison, but had filed an appeal, arguing amongst other things that his defence team had not been given the opportunity to cross-ex- amine the victim. This had been con- firmed by the Court of Criminal Ap- peal, which had noted that while this had undoubtedly been done to prevent the re-victimisation of the witness, such measures should not prejudice the rights of the defendant. The appeal had been partially upheld in January 2022, with the judge send- ing the case back to the Court of Mag- istrates so that the girl, by now in her twenties, could be cross-examined. Grech had been entrusted with driv- ing the girl home from school in Gżira but would first drop off all the other children and take her to a secluded field where he would sexually assault her and on two occasions, rape her. He was convicted of the rape and corruption of a minor but acquitted of holding the child her against her will, the court citing case law establishing that this offence was part of the crime of rape. Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit sentenced Grech to imprisonment for 11 years, together with a three-year re- straining order and the payment of €500 in costs. The court also ordered that Grech's name be inscribed in the sex of- fenders register. The man would first drop off all the other children and take her to a secluded field where he would sexually assault her and on two occasions, rape her