Appeals Court turns down request for judge's abstention

The Appeals Court yesterday confirmed a ruling in which a request for a judge to abstain from presiding over an up-coming murder trial was denied.

Ibrahim Ramandan Ghamber Shnishah had filed an application requesting Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono to abstain from presiding over his trial since, when the judge was a lawyer, he had filed an application on behalf of Alfred Rizzo, the brother of hairstylist Alfie Rizzo who was murdered in his hair salon.

In his application Shnishah claimed that once Mr Justice Galea Debono, as a lawyer, had signed an application for Albert Rizzo, requesting that the shop where the murder was committed to be re-opened and that items that belonged to the victim be returned, he was involved in the case and therefore was not impartial. For this reason he requested the judge to abstain.

The application (signed by Mr Justice Galea Debono when a lawyer) had been filed at the inquiry stage and before Shnishah or Aimen Said Giali El Baden were charged with their involvement in the murder in February, 1998. (El Baden was jailed for 25 years after jurors found him guilty of the murder.)

In a ruling given on November 8, the Criminal Court had turned down Shnishah's request and, consequently, he filed an appeal.

After evaluating the case, Chief Justice Vincent Degaetano, Mr Justice Jospeh Filletti and Mr Justice David Scicluna, who presided over the Court of Appeal, ruled that there was no legal reason why the judge should abstain from hearing the case.

Although the judge knew the victim's brother, he was never involved in the merits of the case.

It would have been absurd had the judge abstained since in Malta there are many instances when a judge or a magistrate knows someone related to an accused or a victim.

In the circumstances the court ruled that any doubt that Shnishah had regarding the impartiality of the judge was not justified.