Gosh, how cosy all this is
Magistrate Consie and brother Jose - we'll see each other in court
L-orizzont, today:
Sentenza sospiża fuq prostituzzjoni
Bormliż ta’ 45 sena ngħata sentenza sospiża waqt li ġie ordnat mill-Qorti biex jikkonsidra lil dik li kienet is-sieħba tiegħu għal dawn l-aħħar 13-il sena daqs li kieku ma teżistix iżjed. Dan wara li ammetta li kien qed jgħix minn fuq il-prostituzzjoni tagħha.
Dak li wassal biex ir-raġel tressaq il-Qorti kien il-fatt li fil-jiem li għaddew, il-vittma li hi sena iżgħar minnu ddaħħlet l-Isptar minħabba li kienet qiegħda ssofri minn xi ġrieħi li kkaġunalha hu stess meta ħebb għaliha.
Hekk kif ilbieraħ kien se jibda għaddej proċeduri kriminali, ir-raġel ammetta mill-ewwel għall-akkużi li nġiebu kontrih fosthom li kien jagħmel qligħ mill-prostituzzjoni tagħha kif ukoll li sawwatha.
Filwaqt li kkundannatu għal 18-il xahar priġunerija sospiżi għal sentejn il-Qorti, preseduta mill-Maġistrat Consuelo Scerri Herrera, wissietu biex joqgħod attent u jħalli lis-sieħba li kellu bi kwieta għax issa għandu din il-piena mdendla fuq rasu.
Għall-Bormliż, li ismu mhux qed jixxandar biex tkun protetta l-identità tal-vittma, dehru l-Avukati Josè Herrera u Veronique Dalli.
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Ezekiel 1:16
[Daphne – Yes, that’s where the expression ‘wheels within wheels’ comes from.]
Consuelo, why this sudden obsession with identity? You are protecting the man from Bormla not the victim. Did you by any chance ask him whether he is on Facebook? You never know who you might find among his friends.
Will nothing be done to end this farce?
No doubt Jose’ has exceptional qualities as a lawyer that must have impressed his sister the magistrate.
excuse me: wasn’t there a court sentence saying that lawyers who are relatives of the judge should not appear before said judge?
Consuelo Scerri-Herrera is not a judge.
I thought relatives were not supposed to defend cases in front of their family.
I think it’s about time that we stand up and be counted. This cannot be left unaccounted for.
Min ha jwaqqaf dan ic-cirku ta’ ingustizzji?
Oh what a lovely beer belly – charming, absolutely charming. I Always thought that judges abstained from hearing cases where the plaintiff or the defendant is represented by relatives, or lawyers from the law firm to which that judge/magistrate belonged before taking office. Veru saret repubblika Malta, ta! Buona notte….
Good lesson learnt here…should I need a lawyer, I’ll check out the magistrate’s family tree first!
What’s that thing being flashed by Jose? Is it really his left nipple – looks rather oddly sited to me. He seems pleased enough with it though. What are the two most useless things in the world? A man’s nipples and the pope’s balls.
Il x’arukaza, imma mpossibli il-polplu malti jibqa daqshekk passiv b’dawn il hniezrijiet? Qumu min dik ir-raqda li qedin fiha u ejja ma nhalluhomx isiru iktar hnizrijiet minn dawn. Issa meta jkolli xi kawza nipprova insib lill xi avukat li ghandu lill xi hadd tal-familja magistrat jew imhallef halli inserrah mohhi zgur.
Nilaghbuha ta’ insara imma l-infern ghal Maltin gie mahluq!
Il-gudikanti qedin hemm biex jghaaghmlu gustizzja, u dan li jistenna minnhom il-poplu. B’ gustizzja nifhem li kulhadd jiehu li haqqu, kemm l-agressur u kemm il-vittma li kif nafu m’hux dejjem possibbli.
Izda b’decizjonijiet bhall din inkunu qedin naghtu messagg “fil-fhema tieghi” lis-socjeta, li wiehed jista jizbalja u jwegga n-nies bla ma jhallas ghal ghamilu
Mhuwiex fl-interess tal gustizzja li wiehed ma jhallasx ghal ghemilu , ghax dan jikreja dizordni fis-socjeta.
Meta min ikun instab hati, johrog il-barra b’sentenza sospiza, il-gudikant ikun qed jara biss l-interess ta l-agressur li ma jmurx il-habs sa kemm ma jaghmilx reat iehor f’perjodu stabbilit, meta suppost il-gudikant jara l-interess tas-socjeta u jiprotegiha permezz ta sentenza gusta, u li qatt ma tista tkun gusta jekk min ghamel hsara ma jhallasx ghaliha bi flus jew habs skont il-kas.
Dan il-principju ghandu jinzamm dejjem u li ghandu jkollu fid-deskrizzjoni tieghu il-gudikant, fil-fehema tieghi, hu li jistabbilixxi l-piena gusta ghax il-gustizzja mhux biss trid issir, imma trid tidher ukoll li qieghda ssir.
Chests that ‘hang out’ together deserve each other.
As far as I know no lawyer can defend any case in front of judge if he has any connection with the same judge. And it is fair enough.
How are cases allocated? Is there a rotatation and can a lawyer (though the friendly police) wait for his ‘favourite’ magistrate turn in order to file a case?
Gob-smacked! A fitting term to describe the reaction to this, Daphne. The brother’s client is (not even) slapped on the wrist having doled out (one surmises) many years of all kinds of abuse, and made a tidy sum selling her off to all and sundry in the mean time. The guy admits to it, and is then given the protection of anonymity to boot.
It would be interesting to see the history of sentences (and not just this one), handed down by Magistrate Herrera in cases where her brother was defence counsel.
How does the AG accept this situation? And what has the justice minister got to say about this mess?
Once neither the magistrate nor the defence lawyer did the decent thing and acted to have the case transferred owing to their blood relationship and so to avoid casting any vestige of doubt on the process, why did the police/prosecution fail to object to the case being heard in those circumstances?
[Daphne – I think the obvious answer is that perhaps the police were equally compromised.]
It is obvious to any person with an iota of intelligence that the magistrate should have relinquished the case due to conflict of interest. Why didn’t she? The result is a very dubious judgement which lowers even further the esteem for the courts by the Maltese public.
What is the Chief Justice going to do about this?
The old adage is that there are two types of lawyer – those who know the law and those who know the magistrate. But this is taking things a bit too far.
About the same case:
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=98817
Studying his criminal record, magistrate Scerri Herrera noted Lia had been involved in a couple of fights and was found guilty of illegal hunting, and carrying a firearm without a permit, among others.
L-akkuzat kien ‘kurnut kuntent’ u jaqla xi haga wkoll.
Here’s another case where the magistrate did not withdraw from the case notwithstanding her brother was the defence lawyer.
http://stocks.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080910/local/accused-of-fraud
It is a mystery how the magistrate could expect to be 100 per cent impartial when the defence lawyer is her own brother? Even if she manages to stay impartial, which is very unlikely, the perception will always remain that the judgement is skewed.
This sort of thing used to happen with the Mifsud Bonnicis. But those were Nazzjonalisti, so it’s ok.
[Daphne – No, it wasn’t. It actually caused precisely the same sort of scandalised reaction.]
Well now a Mifsud Bonnici is Minister for Justice so you can see why it’s still ok.
Mucking about with our justice system.
Daphne,f’dan il-kas ir-ragel li wehel sentenza sospiza kien recidif? Ghax ma ssemma xejn, la mill-prosekuzzjoni u l-anqas mill-gudikanta.
Aqra hawn:
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=98817
Herrera’s one-stop justice shop !
What’s sauce for the goose is not always sauce for the gander – http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2008/02/27/t2.html
I always thought the law’s an ass but this is more than I ever imagined. It should be obvious even to a primary school child that when facing a judge, the accused, the defence or the prosecutor should be family.
…and then you wonder why Malta is falling into anarchy!