Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1512576
doubt that the woman was not in prison or the court lockup. "So why did you institute these pro- ceedings?" asked the magistrate. Grima explained that the woman had been taken away from his cli- ent's house by police officers who had arrived in three squad cars. "She isn't in prison or in the lockup but she was definitely taken away by the police," he said. Grima asked whether the wom- an was being detained at a police station. "She is not in police custody," replied the inspector. "She is run- ning free, wherever she wants to be. I am not going to tell you where she is." The court did not allow further questions from the defence. 'We don't even have a corpus' Grima then argued that the wom- an had been arrested without a warrant, only for the court to point out that he was not representing her, but Galea. "On behalf of his girlfriend," corrected the lawyer. "She isn't his girlfriend," the in- spector shot back. "Who told you she isn't my girlfriend?" asked Galea, speaking for the first time. "This is an action for habeas corpus and we don't even have a corpus!" rued the magistrate, be- fore asking the inspector directly whether the woman was in a police station. She was not, he replied. "And at no time was she arrested." Grima asked the court to allow the man and the inspector to testi- fy, insisting that this claim was un- true. The request was granted, but the magistrate made it clear that she would not allow any questions about the woman's whereabouts. "Did you and your team go to Wardi- ja for this lady?" asked Grima. "Yes," replied the inspec- tor. "Did you take her away?" "No, she came with us voluntarily." Grima asked the police inspector what he had said to her that made her leave with the police, but he refused to answer. "It is irrelevant to this case," he said. The court agreed on this point. The man who had filed the ha- beas corpus, Massimo Galea, took the stand. He described his relationship with the woman in question. "We have been together for four months. I am a pilot. She moved in with me… We had just arrived in Sicily when she received a phone call from the inspector, telling her to attend the police sta- tion on Friday at noon." "On the 28th we saw the police outside the gate. I approached the inspector but he said 'I don't want to speak to you, I want to talk to [the woman]'." Galea claimed that the inspector had warned him that he had four minutes to bring her out of the house or the police would be go- ing in. When the woman emerged, "two officers picked her up by the armpits and dragged her into a car," he said. Around six police officers took part in the incident, during which, he said, he had not been shown any warrants. He added that a number of other lawyers had not taken up his case, saying this was because the inspec- tor was refusing to cooperate. "I have a feeling… I would like her to come here and testify about whether she was taken," Galea said. "Maybe she was kidnapped." 'This isn't Disneyland' He told the court that he had tried to call the woman up but her phone was off. Her family were concerned, he said. "She's been missing for days. Maybe she should come here to testify her- self," Galea suggested. The court gave short shrift to that suggestion, however. "This isn't Disneyland, sir. We are here to establish the legality of her ar- rest. I can hypothesise and fanta- sise and surmise as to what might have happened, but that is not the point of these proceedings." Galea added that the other police cars had blocked the road to pre- vent him from following the car transporting the woman. Inspector Busuttil asked the man to say who had answered the wom- an's phone when he had called her while the couple had been in Sicily. Galea said that he had. Neither had Galea received any phone calls from the woman's parents and cousins, he admitted, leading the court to confront him with his previous assertion that the family had expressed concern. "I will get their numbers…" Galea began but was cut short by the magistrate, who pointed out that this meant that he had only as- sumed this to be the case. "If she comes here - and I don't even have to be here - , and says that she doesn't want to be with me, I will back off, but I can't live not knowing what happened to her. That would kill me," Galea told the court, before asking the inspector why the woman had been taken. In a decree handed down lat- er in the evening, the court dis- missed the application, stressing the fact that habeas corpus was a remedy only available to a person detained, and which could not be filed by third parties in that per- son's name. Although Galea technically had no standing in the case, the court had nonetheless allowed him to have his say, said the magistrate. "Whilst deploring the applicant's actions, which have wasted every- body's precious time by filing pro- ceedings of an urgent nature when there wasn't even an arrest or de- tention, the court finds this behav- iour to show contempt towards its authority, especially in view of the waste of time and public resources in proceedings which should nev- er have been filed, because they are entirely null, irregular and abusive." 13 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 DECEMBER 2023 NEWS CAREER OPPORTUNITIES Submit your application Candidates must also be proficient in the Maltese and English Languages. Further information and a comprehensive Job Description may be obtained by contacting the Court Services Agency on recruitment.courts@courtservices.mt. Candidates are to submit their letter of application, their qualifications and experience in a Europass Curriculum Vitae Format, a copy of their relevant scanned certificates and a valid Police Conduct Certificate by e-mail on recruitment.courts@courtservices.mt. COURT CLERKS - (Malta Courts) JobsPlus Permit No. 337/2021 Eligibility: Prospective candidates must have an 'O' Level standard of education and must be in possession of ECDL/ICDL passes in modules 2, 3 and 4. The salary for the post of Court Clerk is pegged to the Court Services Agency Grade 7. At 2023 rates, this is equivalent to €14,802 per annum, rising by annual increments of €350 up to a maximum of €17,952. Newly engaged Court Clerks start from Step 3 of this Grade, i.e. €15,502 per annum. This full-time post is on an indefinite basis and is subject to a probationary period of six months. Applications will be received till Friday 15th December 2023 at 13:00 hrs. Aġenzija għas-Servizzi tal-Qrati shrift from court over frivolous abducted his girlfriend Inspector Joseph Busuttil (right): 'She is not in police custody… She is running free, wherever she wants to be. I am not going to tell you where she is.'