Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/919364
maltatoday SUNDAY 24 DECEMBER 2017 6 News THE courts were kept on their toes in 2017, a year bookended with heavily armed police escorts. Janu- ary kicked off with the continua- tion of the compilation of evidence following 2016's Christmas Air Afriqiyah hijack whilst the closing days of 2017 saw the arraignment of three men suspected of having murdered Daphne Caruana Gali- zia. Court sittings in both cases were heralded by the arrival of po- lice in balaclavas and body armour, carrying assault rifles and tactical shotguns. Some had poked fun at the police for "dressing up" for the international news community in January, but not in the Caruana Galizia case - perhaps a measure of how much has changed in these 12 months. A lot of other court-related things have happened, however. Aside from two more murders, 2017 saw an avalanche of success- ful police raids on drug smugglers this year and the seizure of record- breaking amounts of narcotics, a disbarred lawyer extradited to face trial for fraud, a pensioner cleared of murder after 4 years await- ing trial and a refusal to extradite Chilean businessman Alberto Chang Rajii, accused of running a multi-million dollar ponzi scheme in his home country, back to Chile, amongst many others. Lawyer Patrick Spiteri, who was extradited to Malta from the UK in May, following a cat and mouse game with the Maltese authorities, to face charges of fraud and misap- propriation amounting to around €7.4 million and spent the next 9 months in preventive custody was finally released in time for Christmas after appeals were filed against several magistrates' refus- als to grant him bail. Notable exonerations this year include that of lawyer David Gatt. Gatt, a former police inspector had been charged with 14 serious offences, including the €1 million heist in 2007 from the HSBC Bank branch in Balzan, three failed at- tempts to steal armoured cash vans, an attempted robbery at the main vault at HSBC Bank's na- tional headquarters and the foiled hold-up of a jeweller in Attard on 30 November in 2010. Gatt was cleared after the prosecution's star witness, a police constable known only as "PC 99," was comprehen- sively discredited by the defence as a fantasist. The arraignment of a Maltese man and his Chinese partner blew what was left of the lid off the open secret that are brothels passing themselves off as "Chinese mas- sage" parlours operating in Malta. In testimony that will draw paral- lels with the Leisure Clothing hu- man trafficking case, employees said they had been promised very different jobs and conditions in China but found attempts to re- turn blocked by employers who refused to return their passports. Two car bombings shook the islands this year. In January, the murder of Victor Calleja, 'ic-Chip- py', from Hamrun, whose car was blown up outside the Maltapost depot in Marsa. Calleja, 65, was well-known to the police, having also been previ- ously implicated in the 1998 holdup on a Group 4 security van, in which Lm50,000 in cash were stolen. This was followed in October by the as- sassination of journal- ist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia, also by a car bomb, which sent the country into a tailspin from which it is yet to recover. Three men have been charged with her murder, but ac- cusations that the murder was either politically motivated, facili- tated or indeed, commissioned are still being investigated. For those who felt justice had turned its back on the islands, hopes that all was not lost were given a boost in October. The ex- oneration of 67-year-old Gerald Galea in his trial by jury for run- ning over and killing a man who had viciously beaten him in the Qbajjar car park after Galea ob- jected to the man's cutting of a protected species of tree to make way for a kiosk, was greeted with joy by Galea's friends and family, including his 97-year old mother who made the crossing from Gozo in tumultuous weather to attend a sitting. Less prevalent in court than in previous years was the comic re- lief aspect, with only one obvious contender within easy recall - the case of the 16-year-old England fan who made a bet with Twitter that he'd invade the pitch in return for 400 retweets. Several thousand retweets, a pitch invasion, arrest, conditional discharge, nominal fine and a reported lifetime ban from England games later, the Christmas specials • Crime and punishment The mark of a Maltese mafia This Fes ve season give your This Fes ve season give your This Fes ve season give your loved ones the gi of peace loved ones the gi of peace loved ones the gi of peace of mind. of mind. of mind. Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects Hon. Ian Borg Drive responsibly Merry Christmas A violent year that remains book-ended by car-bombs and the death of one of Malta's most intrepid journalists and bloggers Murder in Attard: an upholsterer is injured and another man shot dead in a hit carried out by somebody on a motorbike Victor Calleja 'ic-Chippy', killed in a car bomb in Qormi outside the Maltapost HQ MATTHEW AGIUS PHOTO JAMES BIANCHI PHOTO JAMES BIANCHI