Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1547002
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 OCTOBER 2026 NEWS Law forcing to Mount A magistrate ordered a man to be detained at the mental health hospital while stating plainly there was no need for him to be there CAN the law force a person found not criminally responsi- ble because of legal insanity in- to hospital, even when he is no longer in that state of mind? This is the question that the Court of Criminal Appeal has referred to the Constitutional Court in a case involving a man who is being detained at Mount Carmel Hospital. The question stems from a case in which a magistrate or- dered a man to be detained at the mental health hospital while stating plainly there was no need for him to be there. Magistrate Marse-Ann Farru- gia made clear in her judgment last July that she was uncom- fortable with the detention or- der she was legally required to make. "It is obvious that there is no need for the accused to be kept again at Mount Carmel Hospital," she wrote, warning that keeping him there "may be counter-productive to his mental health". She said she was making the order only because the law required her to do so, rather than because she considered it necessary "in the interest of the accused himself and or of society". She was equally blunt about where the fault lies. It is "truly unfortunate", she said, that de- spite the enormous advances in psychiatry over the past centu- ry, the legislator "never felt the need" to revisit the Criminal Code's provisions on insanity. Those provisions, she ob- served, remained "in substance the same as when the Code was ĦALEY XUEREB hxuereb@mediatoday.com.mt St Monica School objects to residential rezoning next to Birkirkara campus ST Monica School in Birkir- kara is objecting to a Planning Control application seeking to rezone an empty site next to the school into a residential area. The application was filed by SS Developments Ltd, which wants to change the local plan designation keeping the site free from any development except a future extension of "institutions". The company was the plot to be rezoned as a residential area instead. In a formal objection, St Mon- ica School said it was objecting to the permanent removal of the institutional designation from the land directly adjoin- ing its property. The school argued that the site represents a scarce institutional resource in a densely developed locality and could potentially be used in future for classrooms, spe- cialised educational facilities, sports and recreation, accessi- bility improvements, safer cir- culation or other community uses. It said educational needs could change over the coming decades and that there was no need for the school to have an immediate construction pro- ject for the land to retain its institutional value. The school also raised pri- vacy concerns, arguing that residential development could introduce windows, balconies, terraces and roof-level areas overlooking school grounds, outdoor learning areas and routes used by students. It warned of potential con- flicts between residential amenity expectations and ordinary school activities, in- cluding break times, physical education, assemblies, perfor- mances and extracurricular programmes. Traffic, parking, servic- ing and road-safety impacts should also be assessed along- side existing school activity, particularly during arrival and dismissal periods, the school said. St Monica argued that there was no evident overriding pub- lic-interest justification for re- moving the institutional zon- ing and warned that approval could contribute to the gradual loss of institutional land. The school is asking the Plan- ning Authority to retain the existing designation. JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt St Monica School said it was objecting to the permanent removal of the institutional designation from the land directly adjoining its property Second block of flats approved beside medieval Dingli chapel THE Planning Commission has approved an eight-apartment development metres away from Dingli's medieval Santa Dumin- ka Chapel. This is the second develop- ment approved near the Grade 1 scheduled building despite ob- jections over the impact on the chapel's archaeological setting. The application (PA/07782/24), submitted by Brian Azzopardi, involves excavation of the site, three basement garages and eight dwellings in Triq il-Kap- pella Medjevali. The Planning Commission voted 2-0 in fa- vour. The site lies within the chap- el's archaeological buffer zone. Objectors argued that the pro- ject failed to properly assess the chapel's wider setting. Further- more, the Dingli Local Council also objected because of the scheduled building. The development forms part of a broader process that has opened up this previously in- accessible area of Dingli to resi- dential construction. Although the area was already within the development zone, construction had been ham- pered by the lack of road access. Infrastructure Malta construct- ed Triq il-Kappella Medjevali in 2021, along a road that had been schemed in local plans since the 1960s. The road was constructed without a planning permit be- cause it was already included in the local plans and a 2008 legal notice exempts state bod- ies from seeking permits for schemed roads. Infrastructure Malta said the road was needed to provide ac- cess for fire engines and emer- gency services, while Moviment Graffitti, which organised pro- tests against the road's con- struction, warned it would facilitate further development around the historic chapel. In fact, six years later the site of the new development is now separated from the chapel by the new road. The first resi- dential application was filed in October 2023 for a block of nine flats on an adjacent site. The Superintendent of Cul- tural Heritage (SCH) initially objected because of its impact on the chapel. The proposal was subsequently scaled down by removing one full floor and was eventually approved. Az- zopardi's application was the second residential project to be proposed along the new road. When presented in November 2024, it envisaged nine flats in a five-storey block with a roof- top pool. The plans were subse- quently revised to eight dwell- ings. The approved project consists of three full floors and a further receded penthouse level. The PA said the stepped de- sign would minimise the vol- umes visually affecting the chapel. The SCH raised no objection to the latest plans, subject to archaeological mon- itoring. The basement will contain three garages, despite the eight apartments requiring eight parking spaces. The developer will therefore pay €23,000 into the Urban Improvements Fund for the five-space shortfall. Reproting by James Debono The application, submitted by Brian Azzopardi, involves excavation of the site, three basement garages and eight dwellings in Triq il-Kappella Medjevali. The Planning Commission voted 2-0 in favour