A judge has once again called for proceedings before the Magistrates’ Courts to be recorded in order to avoid problems should the case eventually go to appeal.

The matter was raised by Mr Justice Giovanni Grixti when presiding over an appeal filed by a street vendor who was fined for failing to issue fiscal receipts while selling his wares during Carnival celebrations in Valletta back in February 2016.

Two inspectors from the VAT department had observed the brisk trade, standing at a safe distance from the man’s stall and noting that the due fiscal receipt was not handed out together with the change.

Three customers were approached by the inspectors and told to go back for their receipt, which was duly given but not correctly so, since the items were punched as exempt instead of subject to 18% VAT.

The owner of the stall was subsequently prosecuted and fined €900, prompting him to file an appeal.

Mark Camilleri argued that he had been busy serving customers and had no idea that his helper had failed to issue the due receipts. When spoken to by the VAT officials he had only been told about the incorrect data on the receipts.

When delivering judgment, Mr Giovanni Grixti observed that since summary proceedings were not recorded, witnesses were being asked to testify again at the appeal stage, sometimes failing to reproduce faithfully their original version.

This could possibly have a bearing on the outcome of the appeal, the Judge observed, pointing out that the current situation could easily be resolved by recording all proceedings before the Magistrates’ Courts so that, in case of an appeal, the transcripts could be available.

This would save time and allow the Court of Criminal Appeal to revise the decision of the first court rather than having to hear all evidence from scratch.

In this case, the Court concluded that it had no reason to doubt the prosecution witnesses and to disturb the decision reached by the first court, thus rejecting the appeal.

Last week, Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera, issued a decree in relation to an appeal from a traffic conviction wherein the court called for all proceedings before the Magistrates’ Courts, including collision cases, to be recorded.

On that occasion, the Judge had ordered a copy of the decree to be notified to the Justice Minister.