One of the alleged hitmen in the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination has been awarded over €7,000 in damages and interest, over delays in an 18-year court case stemming from a €2 million holdup on a cash van in 2000.

Alfred Degiorgio, under police custody since December 2017 and currently awaiting trial over his alleged involvement in the journalist’s murder alongside his brother George and co-accused Vincent Muscat, had filed constitutional proceedings claiming that his right to a fair hearing had been breached.

His claim stemmed from criminal proceedings linking him to the violent robbery wherein some Lm884,200 (€2 million) were stolen from a Group 4 cash van in Canon Road, Santa Venera in October 2000.

Emanuel Formosa, a company employee who had been driving the van, was cleared by a Magistrates’ Court.

Another co-accused, Mario Cutajar, at whose house the stolen cash had been subsequently discovered, was convicted for handling stolen property and was given a suspended sentence.

Degiorgio, named by the other co-accused under police questioning, was also found guilty of handling stolen property and was handed a suspended sentence in August 2017 - almost 17 years after he was first arraigned. 

That conviction was quashed on appeal one year later, with a court highlighting a procedural defect and the fact that the prosecution’s case had hinged on a fingerprint on one of the cash-filled bags, which did not suffice to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.

Fingerprint expert delay

Degiorgio filed constitutional proceedings some months after winning that appeals verdict, claiming that his right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time had been breached while the criminal case dragged on before the Magistrates’ Court, mainly on account of the difficulties faced by that court when sourcing and appointing a fingerprint expert.

An initial expert had been appointed in 2001 but renounced the brief a short while later. It then took a further 10 years for the court to find an adequate substitute on account of a lack of experts provided by the Justice Ministry, despite a call to engage a foreign expert to handle the brief.

When a suitable expert was finally appointed by the court in April 2011, the prosecution asked to lift fresh fingerprints from the accused, since the original samples had been damaged. 

The expert submitted a fingerprint analysis report in 2013. 

When delivering judgment, the First Hall, Civil Court, in its constitutional jurisdiction, presided over by Mr Justice Toni Abela, dwelt at length upon this cause for delay, pointing out that the although the Magistrates’ Court had done all it could to overcome the impasse, “13 years for the appointment of a court expert can in no way be deemed reasonable”.

It was up to the Justice Ministry to provide a list of experts to enable the courts to administer justice within a reasonable time, observed Abela, adding that, in this case, repeated calls by the Magistrates’ Court to the ministry had been met with inaction, causing a “procedural paralysis”.

Turning to the prosecution’s handling of the fingerprint evidence, the court observed that this, too, had contributed to the delay, pointing out that the prosecution had taken over two years to identify a suitable expert and only then had requested a comparative analysis of the fingerprints.

A number of sittings had been deferred through no fault of the accused who, though not actively cooperating in solving the fingerprint issue even when asked to do so by the court, had been diligent and had always attended hearings.

In a 57-page judgment, Abela concluded that the behaviour by the relative authorities had doubtlessly been the main cause for such excessive delay in proceedings.

Consequently, the court declared that Degiorgio’s right to a fair hearing had been breached and ordered the Attorney General and the Police Commissioner to jointly cover €7,000 in damages, subject to a 5% interest rate calculated as from 2010.

The director of the criminal courts was declared non-suited.

Lawyer William Cuschieri assisted the applicant.