Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/302202
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 27 APRIL 2014 News 9 JURGEN BALZAN JUSTICE Minister Owen Bonnici ruled out introducing a legal notice which would not allow courts to sus- pend sentences when guilty parties file a case against the State at a Eu- ropean level. Joe Zammit Tabona, a retired law- yer and victim of a burglary in 1995, won €130,000 in damages and de- spite having this sentence upheld by four separate courts, the judgement has been suspended by Judge Jacque- line Padovani Grima after the debtor – who happened to be the family's handy man – opened a case against Malta in the European Court of Hu- man Rights. Asked whether government was following the case, Bonnici said the burglary case received ample media coverage, some of which was made relative to the cases instituted by Zammit Tabona before the ordinary civil courts. "The same coverage also sur- rounded the constitutional redress proceedings which were instituted relative to the same burglary inci- dent. This inevitably means that the cases were followed by the Ministry and a thorough analysis was also ef- fected relative to the findings of the various domestic courts involved," Bonnici said. Yet, the newly appointed minister ruled out the introduction of a legal provision to avoid such idiosyn- crasies, saying, "the advice which I have from the Office of the Attor- ney General is in the sense that the law already adequately provides for this eventuality in the Code of Or- ganization and Civil Procedure". However, speaking to MaltaTo- day, Joe Zammit Tabona said that after years 19 years of pain, he is "ready to die for [his] principles". He argues that the decision to suspend the judgement confirmed in four separate courts in Malta is "scandalous". The 85-year-old Zammit Tabona explained that the Maltese law stipulates that: "A judgement shall not operate to the prejudice of any person who neither personally, nor through the person under whom he claims, nor through his lawful agent, was party to the cause deter- mined by such judgement." This he added, means that "if the judgment debtor decides to take Malta to the European Court of Human rights, on alleged grounds of unfair hearing, the judgement creditor has nothing to do with the new case, whatever the outcome. So to suspend the execution of the judgement by the judgement credi- tor is clearly in breach of the law." Insisting that the case opened against the state by the man found guilty of being the brains behind the burglary in which Zammit Tabona and his wife Mae were beaten up by seven hooded men who stole around Lm500,000 worth of gold and jewel- lery in 1995, the retired lawyer says "the debtor's case against the state has nothing to do with my case, which was established by Malta's Supreme Court". Describing the decision to sus- pend the execution of the sentence as "an insult to the judiciary itself," Zammit Tabona said that this view is shared by a number of legal ex- perts, including former European Court of Human Rights judge Gio- vanni Bonello, former Chief Jus- tice Giuseppe Mifsud Bonnici and Dutch European law experts. "These retired judges and legal experts are livid at the goings on at the Law Courts," he said, adding that not only did the decision create a dangerous precedent which can only be addressed by a legal notice, "but it has cast a bad light over the Judiciary involved in the giant er- ror". He added that the suspension of the case constitutes the "highest level of injustice in civil cases as the case refers to a file examined by eight judges over some 15 years dealing with a hold-up which caused great commotion in itself, causing great financial loss – a record for a private house – a destroyed family and the eventual death of my wife after a bedridden calvary, all at the hands of the judgement debtor, civ- illy responsible." Timeline 1995 – Seven hooded men enter the Zammit Tabona household in St Julian's on 12 May, holding the couple in their bedroom before making off with Lm500,000 worth in gold and jewellery kept in a safe. The thieves seem to know their way around the house after entering through a roof door. Mea Zammit Tabona suffers a broken leg after being hit with the butt of a rifle while Joe Zammit Tabona suffers facial injuries. 1998 – Case is filed against Charles Saliba, the Zammit Tabonas' handy man and friend whom they had known for 38 years. Saliba knew the house very well and was recognised by Joseph Zammit Tabona during the burglary. 2008 – In April, Mea Zammit Tabona passes away after years of suffering due to the injuries sustained in the burglary. 2008 – In October, Charles Saliba is found guilty and ordered to pay the Zammit Tabonas over €130,000 in damages. 2009 – The Court of Appeal upholds the First Hall of the Civil Court's sentence. 2011 – Saliba loses a Constitutional case after claiming that he suffered a miscarriage of justice. 2012 – The sentence is upheld at appeal stage. 2013 – Saliba takes his case to the European Court and Judge Jackie Padovani Grima holds that Joe Zammit Tabona has to wait until the European Court decides whether Saliba suffered a miscarriage of justice in his case against the Maltese State before receiving the damages. Victim still awaits justice 20 years after of burglary Victim of vicious burglary 'ready to die' for his principles as he still awaits for justice to be done almost 20 years after the hold-up