Court orders re-arrest of care worker

The Criminal Court has ordered the re-arrest of a care worker at a home for the elderly who last Friday was charged with slightly injuring an elderly resident when he allegedly slapped him across the face two months ago.

Last week Kevin Mamo, 28, of Zurrieq, who works at St Vincent de Paul, was arraigned under arrest and charged with injuring a 71-year-old bed-ridden man on January 1.

The Magistrates' Court ruled that although the arrest warrant against Mr Mamo had been issued on February 12, Mr Mamo was arrested on March 1.

This was not because he could not be found but because the police had other work to attend to.

The magistrate ruled that this showed there was no "urgency" in arraigning Mr Mamo so he declared his state of arrest as unjustified.

But on Monday, the Attorney General filed an application in the Criminal Court requesting that Mr Mamo be re-arrested.

Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano, in the Criminal Court, noted that the Magistrates' Court had applied the law in a "manifestly mistaken" manner when it declared Mr Mamo's arrest unjustified.

The judge noted that the law clearly stated that a court could unconditionally release a person if it: "Finds that the continued detention of the person charged or accused is not founded on any provision of this (Criminal) Code or of any other law which authorises the arrest and detention of the person in custody..."

While noting that the law did not go into the matter of "urgency" referred to by the magistrate, the judge added that the police had a right to arrest a person to arraign him - irrespective of the duration of investigations - so long as they suspected that he had committed a crime punishable by imprisonment.

The judge upheld the Attorney General's request and ordered the re-arrest of Mr Mamo.

Mr Mamo is expected to file an application requesting bail today.

Police Inspector Jesmond Borg is prosecuting.

Lawyers Ian Farrugia and Franco Galea are appearing for Mr Mamo.