Urgency because Consuelo's reputation is at stake? That ship has long since sailed.
This magistrate has a reputation, yes, but it's not the reputation she thinks she has.
This report is published in The Times today. My responses and clarifications are in bold.
DEBATE IN COURT ON WHETHER COLUMNIST WAS NOTIFED OF SITTING
A police inspector and a lawyer representing Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera yesterday expressed their frustration after columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia failed to turn up in court to testify in a criminal libel case against her.
I did not ‘fail to turn up in court’. On the contrary, it was the police who failed to notify me of the sitting. The police having failed to notify me, I was under absolutely no obligation to be there and so went about my normal business. I did, however, ask my husband to pick up the notification for the next sitting there and then on my behalf, to spare the police further embarrassment and spare us their eve-of-hearing comedies involving breaking the law on Sunday and parking outside our house on the eve of the hearing with their sirens on and a full arrest squad of four officers, which made them look desperate and foolish.
The sitting yesterday was the seventh time that the case has had to be put off and was characterised by a heated exchange over whether, in the eyes of the law, Ms Caruana Galizia had been notified to appear in court or not.
The hearing has been put off several times, but only once because of me. That was in July last year, when I had to travel abroad for business, not pleasure. I notified the court in good time and included evidence that it was an unavoidable work commitment. All other times, the hearing was put off for reasons that had nothing to do with me, including a death in somebody else’s family and most recently, a bomb scare which cleared the court. I cannot see why there was a heated exchange over whether I was notified or not. I was obviously not notified. The police did not serve me with the summons and they were forced to admit as much, however terrified they were of faces unknown.
The case, in which the columnist is pleading not guilty to defaming and harassing Magistrate Scerri Herrera with a string of articles she wrote on her blog in 2010, has had to be put off for different reasons including a bomb scare.
Ms Caruana Galizia’s husband, Peter Caruana Galizia, a lawyer, told Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona hearing the case the police had gone to their house on Sunday to notify his wife about the sitting but he refused to accept it precisely because it was a Sunday. Notifications, he insisted, were not meant to be delivered on a Sunday by law and should be served at least two working days before a sitting.
Yes, and the police officer who turned up at our house on a Sunday morning actually told him that he was within the law, and my husband said, ‘No you’re not. And you’re talking to a lawyer here. Your deadline elapsed yesterday and you’ll break the law even if you come tomorrow.’ A salient point: they have known about this date since just before Easter. Yet they waited until the deadline elapsed, either through negligence (and then they tried to make it my problem) or as a form of harassment. They claimed they tried to notify me before. Really? That’s odd. They’ve never had a problem before. But maybe it’s because they’re so thick. They actually called to notify me on a day when they knew I wouldn’t be at home, because it was the very day they were prosecuting me for asking whether Charlon Gouder has been with any nice whores lately, so they should have known that I’d be in court. My husband opened his diary and said ‘Oh? 4th July? I know exactly where she was that day and so should you.’
Furthermore, he pointed out, the police had sounded the squad car siren while at the house, “which was ridiculous”.
It was worse than ridiculous. It was terrible. The place was swarming with police, a squad car and the siren blaring. All to serve a journalist with a summons to appear in court for criminal defamation, which has been written off the law books throughout most of Europe, or allowed to fall into dead-letter status.
Inspector Sandro Camilleri, who was visibly agitated, said he had sent officers to Ms Caruana Galizia’s house four times, adding that, on one occasion, an officer actually saw her peering from behind a window but did not open the door.
A pure and utter lie, if lies can be pure. Anyone who has been to my house knows that it is impossible to see anything or anyone through the windows, which are at some distance from the gate and obscured by vegetation, blinds and glass which reflects the sun. Even if I had been there, he couldn’t have seen me unless he is blessed with X-ray vision.
Ms Caruana Galizia’s defence lawyer, Roberto Montalto, noted that his client had other pending court cases in which there were never any problems to notify her.
That’s right. But then the police are not as scared of Anglu Farrugia, Dom Mintoff, Charlon Gouder and Julia Farrugia as they are of Consuelo Herrera. If they turn up and don’t find me at home, they say ‘F**k it” and try again a couple of weeks later. And they send one man on a motorbike not a squad car with four policemen on a Sunday.
He also failed to understand why there was all this pomp and ceremony to notify her and why the inspector was making the case out to be so urgent.
Because they know that Magistrate Herrera has slept with one of their superintendants and controls him, but they’re not quite sure which one and so they’re playing safe. Also, they’re not particularly bright or aware of civil liberties and the law, so they don’t understand separation of powers between the police and the judiciary.
Lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell, appearing for Magistrate Scerri Herrera, told Magistrate Micallef Trigona the accused had more than a year to prepare her testimony, insisting Ms Caruana Galizia, together with her husband and lawyer, were making a mockery of the court.
My problem is not that I haven’t prepared my testimony, Steve. I’ve prepared it, all right. It’s that I don’t go along with police abuse. The police want to break the law, I don’t help them. Let them break the law on their own. Had I accepted the summons from them on Sunday or Monday, I would have been complicit in their wrong-doing, and set a dangerous precedent for myself and for others who would then end up being served on Sunday or on the eve of a hearing as well. Probably this sort of abuse has become routine for the police but it never makes the news as it would and did with me.
Dr Montalto later reacted to Dr Tonna Lowell’s comment, saying he was not a comedian and insisting that his client had not been effectively notified.
Dr Tonna Lowell formally asked that the case be put off for judgment without listening to Ms Caruana Galizia’s evidence.
Absolutely disgusting. That would really have stood up at the European Court of Human Rights, Steve. Imagine passing judgement on somebody without hearing his or her case, especially when that case has not been heard because the police have failed to notify the person. Careful Steve, you’re going down the wrong road there.
Referring to a previous comment made by the police inspector that the case was urgent, Dr Tonna Lowell told Dr Montalto the proceedings were in fact urgent and were being heard summarily, which meant they should be heard, if possible, in one sitting and judgment passed shortly afterwards.
Oh, is the case urgent? Sorry, but I hadn’t known. Nobody told me. I was unaware that magistrates are more equal before the law than former prime ministers or street-sweepers. Anglu Farrugia’s dragged on for eight years and even he didn’t have the nerve to stamp his feet, and it has several more to go as I take it to the Constitutional Court later this summer and then if necessary on to the European Court of Human Rights. But Consuelo Herrera is very special. We might all be equal before the law, but cases involving Consuelo must be heard with urgency because her reputation is at stake. Sorry to have to break the news to somebody as naive as you are, Steve, but you’d better break it to your client that that particular ship has long since sailed. Hear the case in one sitting! Honestly. With all those witnesses? I’m guessing they think I don’t have any.
The magistrate put off the case for September in view of the circumstances and the fact that Ms Caruana Galizia had not been notified.
The magistrate noted that the police inspector disagreed with his ruling and promptly told him: “It is I who decide in here.”
The court made it clear this was the last chance for the accused to testify.
That’s fine with me. I’m notified. I have no work trips planned for 6 September. Unless I’m crippled with gastroenteritis, the only circumstances in which I envisage myself unable to keep to the witness stand for a couple of hours or more (though I could always wear a nappy, I suppose), I’ll be there.
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Il-qahba milli jkollha ttik, jghidu. Mhux ta’ b’xejn ddeffes Xarlon.
It’s odd – there’s no mention of a police inspector here. Just a casual mention of riding horses. Horses? Isn’t that illegal?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20070421/life-features/a-day-in-the-life.179005
“By the time I got to her house in Kappara on that Monday morning … she had … taken a cup of tea to her husband in bed ,…”
Really? Xi hlew! Was she already sleeping with Musumeci at the time? Just wondering!
Was it bare-back riding?
“The magistrate put off the case for September in view of the circumstances and the fact that Ms Caruana Galizia had not been notified.
The magistrate noted that the police inspector disagreed with his ruling and promptly told him: “It is I who decide in here.”
The magistrate’s words are precisely I was waiting (and expecting) to read throughout the entire article.
Is this the former police inspector Patrick Spiteri who sent drinks to Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera’s table – the Patrick Spiteri she ‘thought’ was Assistant Commissioner Michael Cassar?
http://www.maltamedia.com/news/2005/ln/printer_10482.shtml
Dak l-estate agent jaqaw?
Yes, that’s him.
Iva, dan hu: http://www.remax-malta.com/240061006-1562
Yes, he earns his income from property sale commissions. Hence the confusion with the Assistant Commissioner.
”Because they know that Magistrate Herrera has slept with one of their superintendants and controls him, but they’re not quite sure which one and so they’re playing safe”
Lol.
And how many Eks-superintendents and other assorted bobbies have had that hmm…honour?
Those that know what a blue waffle is.
timesofmalta.com: “Dr Tonna Lowell formally asked that the case be put off for judgment without listening to Ms Caruana Galizia’s evidence.”
Daphne Caruana Galizia: “Absolutely disgusting. That would really have stood up at the European Court of Human Rights, Steve. Imagine passing judgement on somebody without hearing his or her case, especially when that case has not been heard because the police have failed to notify the person. Careful Steve, you’re going down the wrong road there.”
Worse still, because Dr. Tonna Lowell is appearing for a magistrate of that same court.
Yep. Makes you wonder what’s in it for him. Surely any lawyer worth his salt would know better than that, especially with such a case which has been given such publicity?
And it begs the question: did the client suggest that to the lawyer?
He is a brown nose.
No doubt been offered a cushy number when the ginger magician is boss.
On 15th. April 2011, I personally handed a report at Police Headquarters addressed to the Commissioner of Police, supported by copies of official documents, requesting that action be taken against Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera for perjury, amongst other transgressions, as set out in my report.
To date I have not been informed what action, if any, is being taken. Likewise, I have not heard anything from the Attorney General, the Minister for Justice & Home Affairs, and the Prime Minister, who are all cognizant of this serious accusations of justice maladministration.
I must add that I’m utterly confounded by the fact that the Commission for the Administration of Justice has also kept mum about the outcome of their investigation of Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, which was initiated on 10th September 2008 with the final submissions being made on 1st July 2010, twelve months ago.
Daphne,
We are all with you on this one. I for one definitely sympathise with your situation and admire your determination to fight this terrible ‘system’.
I just kindly ask you to emphasize that the police force is not just made up of people who are there to harass and pester respectful, law-abiding citizens.
The police force has some very good elements within it who risk their life regularly for a pathetic wage.
I am sure you appreciate this but it doesn’t come across from your articles and I think it is harmful to ‘tag’ the police force in this manner.
Once again, please believe me when I say that I sympathise with you and your family for this unexplainable and, if not illegal, grey area ‘treatment, but then again we must not forget the many genuine policemen who earn a misery and dedicate their professional life to law and society.
They are not martyrs, they chose to be there and it is there job to do so – but people in your position, who in some way or another have influence on the way people think, need to constantly remember that the police force as a whole, needs society’s support.
Ara x’sibna:
http://www.zazzle.com/kullhadd_ghal_albert_town_ma_charlon_gouder_tshirt-235331599994287569
I love it when somebody like you, Daphne, stands up for their rights AND knows them! Poor us who are the great unwashed and have no lawyer as a spouse as we are continually abused here.
I will never forget once when there was a protest about the smoke going out of St Luke’s hospital and photographers were taking photos of it from a private residence …the police went in and stopped them…..imagine….the owners were not you, Daph!
That was my son, who was taking pictures for an English newspaper from the roof of a private house – with the owner’s permission. The police went into this house, without authorisation, and arrested my son for doing journalistic work. Unbelievable!
The police force is run like a ‘kazin tal-banda’, but unfortunately our holy politicians prefer not to meddle.
Now THAT is a real story.
The question is: Does anyone “dare” stand up to the mighty magistrate? does anyone dare forget that in 2013 her “boyfriends” will be in power and she will be made judge? All this has to be taken into account when trying to bring some honesty into our judicial system.
It must be hard for you Maltese having been brought up in a system that is so corrupt.
This sums it up for me
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/9fe4089e65.jpg
What a waste of police resources. What a waste of taxpayers’ money. The magistrate is waging a war for so little gain if any at all. She is not seeing the whole picture. The louder the noise the bigger the audience.
It is well known that her behaviour has not been appropriate for a magistrate’s position. Obviously, she is fighting the charges because they have stuck.
All it takes is a change of behaviour. I believe that she is poorly advised and I hope that she is not being manipulated.
I think the magistrate should move on. She has nothing to gain. This case is going to drag on for years.
‘All it takes is a change of behaviour’. No. It takes a lot more than that. The decent thing to do would be to resign and disappear into the sunset. That would show respect for the institution she’s meant to serve – and I mean justice, not the courts themselves.
Wearing clothes suitable for her age and figure would help too, but that would work solely at a personal level. It’ll make little to no difference to anyone else.
Re that particular eks, now turned estate agent, good to know where NOT to go when looking for a property .
Not that I’m doubting your version of events, but in this report, it says “Police Inspector Sandro Camilleri said that the police had called at Mrs Caruana Galizia’s residence on July 2, 4, 7, last Sunday and on Monday and every time the officers were not able to deliver the summons.” Did they come on July 2, 4 and 7 as well?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110712/local/caruana-galizia-making-mockery-of-the-court-lawyer.375192
[Daphne – As I explained, on 4th July the police knew exactly where I was because they were prosecuting me for asking whether Charlon Gouder has been with any nice whores lately. On 2 July they definitely did NOT come because I was working in the garden all day and would have seen them (it was a Saturday). And on the 7th, I wouldn’t know as I was out most of the day so I’ll take their word for it. But taking the word of the police is a big mistake, as I know for a fact.]
Matt – just true – it will drag on for years – at least just before next elections: Consuelo becomes a judge; her brother Minister of “Justice”; her present-case lawyer a magistrate; one of her police boyfriends, Commissioner of Police. Any more vacancies? Something MUST be found for Musumeci.
[Daphne – MEPA Chairman and CEO]
The officer who saw Daphne peering from behind a window must either have X-ray vision or been to the wrong house.
Nifrahlek kemm taf tieqaf ghall-bullying tal-pulizija!
Absolutely brilliant, Daphne – go get the b..ch!
Daphne I have already posted a comment along the lines of what is to follow but I can’t find it published and am really interested in your answer.
Here is my question: Hypothetical scenario: Judge is judging a person accused of some sexual crime. The man in the dock has slept with one of the judge’s siblings or has had some sort of adulterous relationship with him/her. Should the judge refrain from hearing the case if he knows of the matter?
[Daphne – OF COURSE.]