Constitutional application dismissed with costs

Mr Justice Noel Cuschieri in the First Hall of the Civil Court yesterday dismissed a constitutional application filed by Salvatore Grech who claimed that his right to a fair hearing had been violated when the prosecution failed to produce a judge as a witness within a reasonable time.

Grech, who is undergoing compilation proceedings before the Magistrates' Court, filed the application against the Attorney General.

He claimed that his fundamental human right to a fair hearing had been violated by the failure of the prosecution to produce Mr Justice Gino Camilleri as a witness within a reasonable time.

Applicant claimed that although the judge had been served with the summons to testify in January 2002 he had not testified within six months.

No action had been taken by the Magistrates' Court in this regard.

This, Grech said, constituted a violation of his right to a fair hearing and he requested the court to grant him a remedy.

The Attorney General pleaded that the application was frivolous and vexatious and that no unreasonable delay had taken place.

Mr Justice Cuschieri noted that there was no doubt whatsoever that the proceedings against Grech had not been unreasonably delayed.

The case had been put off for intervals of one month and sometimes shorter.

Grech had been arraigned on December 7, 2001 and had obtained release on bail in that sitting. In the two sit-tings held on December 20, 2001 and January 9, 2002 six witnesses had been heard.

In the next sitting of February 7, 2002, the witness had failed to attend the sitting but had then testified in the sitting of April 9, 2002. No witness had been heard in the intervening sitting of March 4, 2002 as Grech's lawyer had requested that the case be put off.

On May 14, 2002 Mr Justice Camilleri was expected to testify. However the case was put off for June 14, 2002 as the witness was abroad. The judge testified in the June 14 sitting.

It was therefore clear that Grech's complaint about the judge was unfounded.

Furthermore, the case had been put off 10 times after the judge's testimony and eight of those sittings had been put off for reasons attributable to Grech.

In fact, Grech had failed to attend court in two sittings held in January 2003 and two more held in February of the same year and the prosecution had informed the court that he could not be traced.

Grech had appeared at a later sitting, in May 2003, and had requested that the criminal proceedings be suspended as he had filed this constitutional case.

Grech's application was therefore dismissed with costs.