Magistrate's error 'cause of human rights violation'

A man has filed a constitutional application claiming that his fundamental human rights were violated because a magistrate who had heard a criminal case against him did not fill in a form correctly.

Stephen Schembri filed his application against the Attorney General, saying he had been sentenced to seven months' imprisonment last November after he was found guilty of theft charges.

The judgment was confirmed by the Court of Criminal Appeal after it found that Mr Schembri's application for appeal was null and void as it had not been accompanied by a duly completed form showing that he had requested the right to appeal from the first court's judgment.

However, Mr Schembri said that he had asked for permission to appeal and that the standard form for this purpose had been exhibited before the Court of Criminal Appeal.

The appeals court then concluded that the form was not properly completed as it did not state the sum of the guarantee Mr Schembri had to give in order to appeal.

This fact on its own, Mr Schembri argued, did not give rise to the nullity of his appeal. Furthermore, Mr Schembri insisted that such a form was duly completed by the magistrate who had heard his criminal case.

Mr Schembri said he had no control over the manner in which the magistrate had completed the form in his case.

He asked the First Hall of the Civil Court to find that the Court of Criminal Appeal's decision was in violation of his fundamental human right to a fair hearing.

Lawyers José Herrera and Stephen Tonna Lowell acted for Mr Schembri.