An appeals court has slashed expert fees of almost €20,000 imposed in March on a man who was found guilty of a fatal stabbing in Birkirkara in a case of excessive self-defence.

Etienne Bartolo had been convicted of fatally stabbing Roderick Grech in Birkirkara four years ago. He was declared to have acted in excess of legitimate self-defence when he stabbed the victim with his penknife after being punched by the other man. Bartolo was handed a five-year jail term, a fine of €116.47 and was ordered to foot the bill of €19,885.16 in court expert expenses. 

Etienne Bartolo.

The bill for court expenses was reduced to almost one-third after lawyers argued on appeal that it did not reflect the fact that the accused had been found guilty of excusable homicide.

Moreover, the work done by certain experts had produced no positive results.

Such “exorbitant” fees meant that the accused would end up serving a longer jail term since he lacked the financial means to cover the bill and so, any unpaid amount would be converted into time behind bars.

The Court of Criminal Appeal, in its superior jurisdiction, said that scene of crime experts were necessary to preserve the evidence.

The medico-legal expert and the pathologists were also important to determine the link between the accused’s actions and the cause of death.

However, since the accused had admitted under interrogation to having stabbed his alleged aggressor, the DNA and fingerprint experts had not been necessary.

Moreover, their reports had returned negative results and thus had proved no use to the judicial process. DNA test results alone had clocked up a bill of €10,258.92.

The work of an IT expert had been repeated by a different expert, appointed during the compilation stage, the court observed. 

Besides, almost all experts had been appointed by the magistrate in the pre-arraignment phase, when the perpetrator had not yet been identified.

The court declared that the costs to be paid by the accused upon conviction were to reflect the criminal responsibility attributed by society.

“The accused should not pay for that for which he is not responsible.”

In the light of such considerations, Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti, Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon and Madam Justice Edwina Grima, upheld the appeal, ordering the appellant to pay €6825.89 to the Court Registrar within two years.

Lawyers Edward Gatt, Mark Vassallo and Ishmael Psaila assisted the appellant.