Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1504427
NEWS 7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 26 JULY 2023 MATTHEW AGIUS THE Chamber of Advocates has con- demned a magistrate's courtroom out- burst against a prosecutor during a compi- lation of evidence earlier this month. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Chamber expressed solidarity with the lawyer in question. It made reference to an incident which took place earlier this month, during the latest sitting in the compilation of evidence against Roderick Cassar, who is accused of the femicide of his ex-wife, Bernice. During that sitting, prosecutor Angele Vella from the Office of the Attorney Gen- eral had informed presiding magistrate Joe Mifsud that she had requested records of mediation proceedings between Bernice and Roderick Cassar and was waiting for a decision by presiding Judge Abigail Lofaro on her application to exhibit the records from the family court in the criminal case. While Vella was suggesting that the di- rector of courts could undertake to exhibit them, the magistrate angrily interrupt- ed her mid-sentence, shouting that this should have been done in previous sittings and remarking that the court should not make good for the AG "sleeping on the job." "If you wanted this evidence, you should have exhibited it at the beginning of the case," Mifsud had said, commenting that this had contributed to the Office of the Attorney General losing recent trials by jury. Vella had stuck to her guns, interrupting the magistrate and telling the court that this was not the place to discuss juries, before explaining that the prosecution needed this evidence to show that separa- tion proceedings had already been started, because it was the catalyst for the murder. For her pains, the prosecutor was or- dered to stand in the dock beside the ac- cused, the magistrate angrily remarking that he would teach prosecutors a lesson and "find [her] in contempt once and for all." Vella had obeyed the order and proceed- ed to stand in the dock, where she was subjected to a harsh dressing-down by the court. The Chamber of Advocates described Magistrate Mifsud's behaviour as unseem- ly and deplored both his comments as well as his order that the prosecutor join the accused in the dock. Those actions exceeded the remit within which the court was exercising its func- tions, said the Chamber in a statement. The magistrate's comments served no purpose other than to humiliate the pros- ecutor while carrying out her duties and their effect was a loss of public trust in the judiciary, reads the statement, which urged the courts to respect the lawyers appearing before it and refrain from mak- ing comments of a personal nature or of a general nature with regards to the Office of the Attorney General, which has an im- portant role in the justice system. MATTHEW AGIUS TWO men accused of logging into a third party's account on the government e-ID system to revoke the account owner's work permit, in what police sus- pect to be a bid to have that per- son deported, have been granted bail after denying the charges. Police Inspector Marcus Cachia and Attorney General prosecutors Nathaniel Falzon and Andreas Vella arraigned Hossain Md Tanvir, 26, and Raad Raiyyan Karim 23, under arrest before Magistrate Joe Mifsud earlier today. The defendants, both Bangla- deshi nationals, were charged with making unauthorised access to electronic data and then copying, modifying or de- stroying it. Inspector Cachia told the court that the men were ar- rested following an investiga- tion by the police cybercrime unit into a report received on April 23. The person filing the report, also understood to be a third party national, had told the police that someone had accessed the central permit system using his e-ID and re- voked his work permit. The victim told the police he suspected that the desired re- sult of the action was to have him deported. The police traced the IP ad- dress logged as having requested the revocation, to a leased apart- ment in Birkirkara. The author- ities found the lease to be reg- istered in the name of the two defendants, although it emerged in court that a number of other individuals also resided there. Tanvir, a plumber and Karim, a hotel employee, both pleaded not guilty to the charges. Law- yer Franco Debono, for Tan- vir, requested bail, pointing out that the defendants had a fixed address and had fully co- operated with the police, to the extent of giving investigators their passwords. Karim's lawyer Ishmael Psaila also requested bail for his cli- ent, explaining that there was no risk of them tampering with the evidence in this case and adding that the men fully in- tended to remain in Malta. The prosecution objected to the request for the men's release from arrest citing the risk of them absconding, highlighting that the address where they had resided for the past 6 months was rented accommodation. Magistrate Mifsud upheld the bail request, ordering the de- fendants to sign a bail book at their local police station every day. The court upheld the pros- ecution's request to order the defendants not to access any portals or information relating to their own or anyone else's Identity Malta single permit system or e-ID. Bail was se- cured by a personal guarantee of €20,000 each. Chamber of Advocates condemns magistrate's dressing down of Attorney General lawyer Two accused of falsely revoking foreign worker's permit to have him deported The Chamber of Advocates has expressed solidarity with lawyer Angele Vella from the Attorney General's office and deplored Magistrate Joe Mifsud's courtroom outburst against her Magistrate Joe Mifsud