Man who buried bodies of murdered Camilleri father and son to escape justice: law amended last month to allow this
The Malta Independent reports on scenes in the courtroom yesterday when it was announced that Alfred Attard, who buried the bodies of murdered drug-dealers Mario Camilleri and his 20-year-old son, also called Mario, in his field against payment from the murderers, will escape justice.
He has been included in a ‘witness protection programme’, the court was told, after the law was amended last month. He will now give evidence in court without the usual counsel to avoid saying anything that will incriminate himself, because he will not be prosecuted anyway.
There is no information on what law was amended and how. Nor is there any indication of why, if it was thought necessary to nail the murderers by freeing Attard from the fear of prison, the normal route was not taken of a presidential pardon for turning state’s evidence.
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http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-04-24/news/accused-in-father-and-son-murder-case-thrown-out-of-court-4733632512/
What does the Law Commissioner – the one who preaches justice reform – have to say about this?
Did he have any role in this change of the law – which is not exactly like a missing comma or an apostrophe?
I really don’t like this.
Is a witness protection programme, which exists in other countries, wrong?
[Daphne – I’m sure that’s a misnomer, because there is no way a witness protection programme can work in a village the size of Malta. Is Alfred Attard going to be given a new name, new home and new identity and relocated to a new village where he will not be recognized by anyone? Be real, please. This is Malta, not the United States. He will also need a new face and a new voice, and even then he will bump into somebody who recognizes him each time he goes shopping.]