Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/310131
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 11 MAY 2014 8 News CHRIS MANGION THE man accused of having run over cyclist Clifford Micallef back in 2009 on the Coast Road outside the White Rocks complex, is appealing a consti- tutional court's decision that threw out his request to have his police statement discarded from the acts of the case be- cause he did not have legal assistance during interrogation. In his appeal, Anthony Taliana, 26 of Hamrun, claims he had been a vulner- able 20-year-old at the time of the inci- dent, and that he was not assisted by a lawyer when he was questioned on the hit-and-run that killed father-of-three Cliff Micallef on 30 July, 2009 at 5am. Taliana is being charged in the Mag- istrates' Court with the involuntary homicide of Micallef, drink-driving, driving a car without insurance cover and relapsing, after having already been convicted of dangerous driving. Judge Joseph Azzopardi has already said it should be the magistrate hearing the case to decide on the admissibil- ity of the police statement, and added that Taliana was not a vulnerable per- son and that his rights had not been breached. The judge described Taliana as "arro- gant" and added that had been repeat- edly cautioned before the police state- ment was taken, clearly showing his statement was given voluntarily and without undue pressure. The judge also said his allegation that the experts' reports had breached his rights was "not factual". But in his appeal, Taliana is quot- ing statements by court expert Mario Scerri who was reported saying that he "kept pushing [Taliana] to tell us who he was with him [during the incident]. Then he got scared and told us that Natasha Chesney was there." Taliana is saying Scerri's comment – replying to his lawyers during the com- pilation of evidence – showed that he had been scared during the question- ing. Taliana is arguing that at the time he had a clean police record, and was un- familiar with police interrogations; that he was under shock and that his father had also been arrested at the time. Taliana is also demanding that the re- ports of court experts Mario Buttigieg, Godwin Sammut and Mario Scerri are removed from the acts of the case as they are based on his police statement. Forensic scientists found Taliana's alcohol-blood level above the legal lim- it: Godwin Sammut found that a urine sample taken six hours after the ac- cident showed 98 milligrammes of al- cohol per 100 millilitres of urine when the legal limit is 107 mg, but based on scientific assumptions and calcula- tions, Taliana's alcohol level in blood was above the legal 80mg per 100ml, which is the legal limit. Sammut based his calculations on the fact that Taliana had admitted to drinking a dozen vodkas with coke be- fore the accident. Citing case-law from the European Court of Human Rights, Taliana is in- sisting that suspects must be afforded legal assistance as soon as they are de- prived of their liberty. "The lack of such provisions con- stituted a violation of the accused's rights. Given the absence of assistance by counsel, who could provide legal advice and technical skills, the appli- cant could not make full and knowl- edgeable use of his rights," Taliana's appeal read. "The ECHR holds legal assistance as a guarantee against self incrimina- tion by suspects who at the time of questioning are under stress, especially when faced with complex criminal proceedings." Citing a judgement of 19 March 2014, his lawyers said the ECHR de- clared that legal assistance must be available at the very first questioning. The Constitutional Appeal was signed by lawyers Michael and Lucio Sciriha. An examination of Taliana's social profile on website Hi5 at the time por- trayed the accused as a 'petrolhead' with a love for fast cars, with photos showing him posing with a bottle of whiskey, in a re-enacted pose of Al Pa- cino's legendary gangster movie 'Scar- face' with a white powder displayed next to him. cmangion@mediatoday.com.mt Hit-and-run motorist insists on human rights' breach Anthony Taliana – photo taken from his former Hi5 profile – has appealed a constitutional judgement that threw out his request to discard his police statement, given without legal assistance. He is being charged with the involuntary homicide of Clifford Micallef, a father of three, who was cycling at 5am on 30 July when he was killed on impact by Taliana's car on the Coast Road. Marco Cremona resigns from Sustainable Development Network JAMES DEBONO EVERESTER and hydrologist Marco Cremona, one of the coun- try's major advocates for sustainable water use, has resigned from the Sustainable Development Network set up by the former Nationalist gov- ernment. Although Cremona resigned in January, citing lack of resources and funding for the committee, neither Cremona's resignation nor the ap- pointment of new members on the network were announced to the public. Originally appointed by former en- vironment minister Mario de Marco in 2012, Cremona was the only member of the network retained by the new Labour government. "We saw no reason why Cremona's resignation should have been treated differently in the media from other changes in the Network's composi- tion," a spokesperson for Minister Leo Brincat told MaltaToday when asked why Cremona's resignation was kept under wraps. The new appointees include Na- ture Trust committee member Gra- ziella Cavlan and four top civil serv- ants. In his resignation letter Cremona referred to the severe lack of re- sources, financial and otherwise, which had crippled the committee, as the main reason for resigning. He also made a number of recom- mendations to help improve the sit- uation, including an overhaul of the sustainable development strategy and the setting up of an adequately resourced Office for Sustainable De- velopment equipped with executive powers to cross-check major nation- al projects, policies and plans against pre-defined sustainability criteria, emanating from a new Sustainable Development Strategy. In the last budget the government allocated a paltry €20,000 for the formulation of a Sustainable Devel- opment National Strategy. No funds were allocated for this aim by the previous government. "For the first time the government has allocated funds for the revision of the draft Sustainable Develop- ment Strategy for the Maltese Islands 2007-2016," the ministry spokesper- son told MaltaToday. According to the spokesperson, the main focus of the Sustainable Development Network is the revi- sion of this strategy. The network is chaired by Alfred