Magistrate Herrera is patently not a private citizen
If the woman on the left were a private citizen, we wouldn't be here in the first place.
Magistrate Herrera’s lawyer said in court yesterday that his client had filed her request for criminal proceedings against me in her capacity as a private citizen.
Somebody should tell him that if she were a private citizen none of this would have come to pass. If she were a private citizen, nobody would give a damn about what she does in and out of working hours, who she sleeps with, who she parties with, and which political party she roots for so blatantly.
Consuelo Scerri Herrera is a magistrate. She is a magistrate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in and out of bed, at parties and in her kitchen. She is a magistrate when she embraces Charlon Gouder, a magistrate when she dances with Labour Party officials, a magistrate when she invites Jason Micallef to tea and he turns up in court to support her (and when she hears libel suits filed against him and by him).
She is a magistrate when she cheats on her husband and exposes herself to blackmail by those who know her secrets. She is a magistrate when she is the catalyst for the destruction of an embryonic family with a new child to raise, on the grounds that all is fair in love and war, and that the distress caused to mother and child can be tossed out of the window or somehow justified.
She is a magistrate when she ‘models’ for a jewellery retailer, a magistrate when she poses for a magazine cover with another woman on a sofa in a titillating pose (or rather, what she probably imagined was a titillating pose), and a magistrate when she consorts during her leisure time with police officers.
She is a magistrate when she sits in judgement over her secret lover’s brother, concealing the nature of their relationship from the system in which she works, a system which is there to ensure that justice is served and that it is seen to be served.
There is a fundamental injustice in my being tried by the very system which I am criticising. What is to stop the magistrate hearing the case from deciding to make a preemptive strike, making an example of me and dealing with me so severely that s/he effectively ensures that no magistrate or judge is ever taken to task in the media again?
The system is now perfectly placed to work to protect itself and its own.
There is no remedy, because I cannot be tried elsewhere, by a different system. Our laws never foresaw a situation in which completely unsuitable people would be appointed as magistrates or judges. They never foresaw the need for public scrutiny, and more particularly policing by the media, of those who sit in judgement over others.
We can look at it another way, too – that the system might work to protect itself in another way altogether: protect itself not from criticism in the media, that is, but from the depredations of individual magistrates and judges whose dubious integrity tarnishes the reputation of the administration of justice, and those who work within it, as a whole. Instead of making an example of me, it might choose to make an example of the magistrate, and send out the message to others who behave as she does, and to the disgusted public in general, that enough really is enough.
We saw the thin end of the wedge years ago. We are now rapidly proceeding to the thicker end of that wedge, with perceptions as to what is and what is not acceptable behaviour for a magistrate or judge now so hopelessly corrupted and depraved that it will take a massive effort to get things back on track.
Magistrate Herrera should take note of the fact that her support base is formed of people whose general attitude is as suspect as her own. I would be thoroughly embarrassed to have Super One, Lorry Sant’s henchman Ronnie Pellegrini, Charlon Gouder and Jason Micallef rooting for me, because it just about says it all. But she is not even embarrassed to count them among her closest and most intimate friends.
23 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
Is that yet another practising lawyer on the right, next to Joseph Muscat’s new secretary? Oh yes, that must be him! He’s the secretary’s husband, the President’s son, partying with the Magistrate (and by the looks of his smile, having a jolly good laugh at whatever she’s doing with her hands/face/…) who has been/will be deciding upon cases he’s representing in Court…just lovely!
Makes you wonder about the conversation over Sunday lunch:
“Dad, don’t tell Consie off, please!”
“Son, you know I can’t just ignore these allegations about her behaviour…”
“Come on daddy, dik wahda minna…can’t you just say you’ve taken note of it?”
“What a good idea…vera t-tifel ta’ missierek!”
And it’s not just one father/son combo we’re talking about here who would fit perfectly in the above scenario regarding the case in question.
”But she is not even embarrassed to count them among her closest and most intimate friends.”
Daphne, you are kidding us right? As if the word ”embarrassment” is in her dictionary. All that any self-respecting judge, magistrate or head of commission has to do is address your above commentary, ensuring action is taken so the judiciary will eventually be rid of these sort of characters.
It’s the only way that the courts can ever hope to regain some credibility, and the the public restores its faith that ultimately justice will prevail.
This is an institution which should be leading by example and it is not happening. Shame!
Very well said.
Nicely put, Daphne. Not sure you even need a defence counsel.
Absolutely spot on. You are a superb writer and an extremely courageous woman. I salute you.
And that says it all, Tim.
The Code of Ethics de facto defines magistrates as public figures, even in their private lives, and clearly defines the parameters for their behaviour at all times.
Any media article written about Scerri Herrera is done BECAUSE she is a public figure. It is LUDICROUS that she is trying to separate her public and private life.
She is not a schoolgirl in a prim uniform, who can then do whatever she pleases after she takes it off.
The magistrate hearing the case had best keep the indivisibility of the private/public persona of a magistrate in mind AT ALL TIMES, as the very essence of what you (Daphne) have been saying and showing about her, is simply that she is not fit to be one.
Q – ” What is to stop the magistrate hearing the case from deciding to make a preemptive strike, making an example of me and dealing with me so severely that s/he effectively ensures that no magistrate or judge is ever taken to task in the media again? ”
A – The subsequent public fury, indignation and sheer rage at that hypocritical, megalomanical and cosa nostra type reasoning.
The public has limits, and I think this would be the proverbial straw breaking the camel’s back.
Yesterday I read Saviour Balzan’s article on the Malta Today website and this afternoon I had the pleasure of reading your contribution. SB’s muddled thinking bored me to tears while the above assessment of the current situation is a joy to read. Daphne you have the support of clear thinking Maltese citizens.
Tal-biki, the magistrate herself does not (or does not want to) even realise that the nature of her job makes her by default a public person. How she actually graduated beggars belief!
Magistrate Herrera has lost the plot or never found it for that matter.
She has also lost the significance of the weighing scales of justice
Affiliations, friends and associates will, for the time being and for their own ends, support and console her.
What happens after that is anybody’s guess.
We will be watching closely what the court will decide on this case. We hope that the court will seek to protect its reputation.
I express solidarity with you, Daphne. Keep those at One sweating.
Can’t you appeal to the European Court of Human rights? I’m not so knowledgeable about these things, but I think that you have the right to be tried in a European court if you think the local court did a bad job of it.
[Daphne – Yes, but all possibilities must be exhausted here first.]
I won’t wish you luck with your court hearing. You don’t need it. I rather think Consie will need it more than you, but she won’t be getting any from me.
Daphne,
The Maltese judicial system is indeed at the cliff-edge. The rot (at least in recent years) commenced with the antics of Emeritus Giuseppe Mifsud Bonnici when he sent a court employee for not switching on his airconditioner, reached a peak with the bribery of Noel Arrigo, and is continuing with the crass stupidity of Consuelo Herrera.
If Joseph Muscat had any sense, he would offer support to the Prime Minister to pave the way for impeachment of the magistrate. The Labour Party should rise above its short term interest in supporting Jose Herrera’s sister and do what is right for the country.
“She is a magistrate when she embraces Charlon Gouder, a magistrate when she dances with Labour Party officials, a magistrate when she invites Jason Micallef to tea and he turns up in court to support her (and when she hears libel suits filed against him and by him).
….
She is a magistrate when she ‘models’ for a jewellery retailer, a magistrate when she poses for a magazine cover with another woman on a sofa in a titillating pose (or rather, what she probably imagined was a titillating pose), and a magistrate when she consorts during her leisure time with police officers.”
….
I would suggest a visual summary of all allegations – a slide show of images for example.
Well said, Daphne.
You forgot to mention the “My favourite room” “interview” in First magazine a couple of years ago.
…and what about the ‘makeover’ carried out on Consuelo at her own home address and broadcast on TV?
[Daphne – Oh my god, yes. ‘Issa innaddfu wicc il-magistrat u naghmluha foundation tad-ditta X…’.]
“The system is now perfectly placed to work to protect itself and its own.”
Those are some wise words. I´d take the case to the ECHR if need be.
“Instead of making an example of me, it might choose to make an example of the magistrate, and send out the message to others who behave as she does, and to the disgusted public in general, that enough really is enough.”
And that nobody is above the all… I must be daydreaming.
I had to ‘beg, steal and borrow’ to get a read of Daphne’s item on her notebook. Fascinating stuff Daph.
Anybody will tell you I’m no moralist. By the same toekn, anybody will tell you that taking responsibility for one’s action is my mantra. The long arm of the law is indeed long. But only as strong as its practitioners. If a female magistrate thinks it is fine to cavort like any partying young woman as regularly depicted in a profusion of cheap weeklies here in UK, then she should do that full time and leave the magistracy.