Every effort is made to ensure justice is done and seen to be done, unless time runs out and prescription kicks in. This happened just days ago when it became known that criminal charges against five people arraigned in connection with the 2018 double-decker bus fatality would have to be dropped as they are time-barred.
The law lays down different periods for different crimes within which the police can institute criminal action against a person.
The idea is to strike a balance between the rights and protection of society and the rights of suspects. Not all agree, however, once Maltese law provides for prescription, then the relevant authorities must see to it that no cases slip through their fingers simply because of the ‘expiry date’.
The police usually investigate cases independently of the inquiring magistrate though, at times, it is done in parallel. In many murder or attempted murder cases, for example, the police do not wait for the magistrate to conclude the inquiry but, after investigating, they generally arraign a suspect long before the so-called in genere, as the magisterial inquiry is technically known, is concluded.
However, there have been instances, as in the double-decker bus incident, when the police decide to await the outcome of the inquiry findings. The investigating officer may have his/her valid reasons why to do this but, as we have just seen, that could risk the case or, at least, some charges, becoming time-barred.
It would, thus, be recommendable if, in such cases, the investigating officer and the inquiring magistrate discuss the matter and agree on a time schedule on how to proceed.
They should also duly inform the attorney general as magistrates are already bound to do in terms of the criminal code when the procès-verbal is not concluded within 60 days. Perhaps it is also time to consider revisiting the law of prescription itself or, rather, the different periods assigned to different offences.
In 2013, parliament approved a law removing prescription on acts of political corruption and there have been calls for prescription to also be removed or substantially extended in child abuse cases.
It is a fact that all institutions involved have a huge workload to deal with and, very often, they must prioritise, meaning either certain, less serious cases, have to wait or else focus their attention on those about to become time-barred with even high-profile or more serious cases having to wait.
The latest available statistics in the public domain indicate there were almost 1,700 pending magisterial inquiries in Malta and more than 300 in Gozo at the end of March 2020, a year ago.
In addition to the quantity, one must also bear in mind the fact that many inquiries could be dealing with complicated and complex issues that may well require the involvement of different jurisdictions.
The role of the magistrate is to preserve evidence for any eventual court case, collate and organise evidence gathered by the police, hear witnesses when deemed necessary, engage experts and then submit the findings and depositions, together with a summary of evidence and conclusions, to the attorney general.
At the end of the day, it is the attorney general and the police who decide whether to prosecute, though it is probably the investigating officer who determines when. That often depends on the evidence in hand and, therefore, the inquiring magistrate and the police need to work together to ensure justice is done and that charges do not exceed their ‘expiry’ date.