Magistrate reports Labour deputy leader to Justice Minister and Commission for the Administration of Justice

Published: November 11, 2014 at 4:30pm

A magistrate has reported Toni Abela, the Labour Party’s deputy leader, to the Minister of Justice (Janice’s boyfriend) and to the Commission for the Administration of Justice.

One of his clients – an alcoholic wife-beater – had to be given emergency legal aid after his defence counsel, Abela, failed to turn up to defend him.

Abela had been instructed by 9am that he would have to turn up by midday for this case which had to be heard at once because of its nature. His client had been arrested on Sunday for assaulting and threatening his wife. By 1.30pm Abela still hadn’t turned up and the court was informed that he had rung to say he had been held up and wouldn’t be coming after all.

The arrogance.

It’s Tuesday today – the morning when the cabinet meets, and Toni Abela for some unexplained reason has a seat in the cabinet. The problem here is that members of the cabinet never have any job other than that of governing or helping to govern. They do not do other, private work.

But Toni Abela does.

toni abela court absence




30 Comments Comment

  1. Il-verita says:

    Going by the cars outside the Prime Minister’s Office, there was indeed a cabinet meeting.

    I presume Abela was there.

    Some politicians fail to understand that their political commitments clash with their profession, to the detriment of their clients.

    If Abela cannot handle being a cabinet member and lawyer and also the Labour Party’s deputy leader, he should let go of one or the other.

    • Josette says:

      Even if he could handle all that, he CANNOT do all that.

      A cabinet member should not have private clients. Aside from the fact that it is a potential disservice to his clients, the potential for a conflict of interest is enormous. And furthermore, what modern democracy has part time cabinet members?

  2. Manuel says:

    Maybe he was busy evaluating his recent visit to Second Home China.

    Let’s see how Tweeting-Savvy Balzan and his Malta-SuperOne-Today will react to this piece of news.

  3. Clemence says:

    I am now really, really worried.

    These messages are being sent to our children:

    1. it’s OK to ignore a magistrate’s order;

    2. it’s OK to smoke a joint;

    3. it’s OK to be found in possession of heroin and cocaine as long as you can show that it’s for your personal use;

    4. it’s OK to have a criminal conviction and a prison sentence confirmed on appeal because you will still be publicly praised and given a top government job.

    This is crossing the line, and it destroys all the principle of education I have been trying to teach my children, particularly my teen who is now of an age to read and understand what is going down.

    Joseph, Toni and the rest are telling my children that it is OK to disobey the courts, that it is OK to commit a crime and get sentenced to prison, that it is OK to be found with drugs as long as they are not going to sell them or share them with somebody else.

    What are the prime minister and Mrs Muscat going to tell their Soleil and Etoile when and if they get into this kind of trouble. They are leading them by example.

    I am worried, really worried .. seriously.

  4. neville pace says:

    It is Tuesday today – was he at Cabinet representing the Labour Party as consultant to the Prime Minister instead of following his client’s mandate?

  5. verita says:

    SILGA

  6. Eddy Privitera says:

    Dr. Toni Abela is not a member of the cabinet. Just as RCC was not a member of the cabinet, remember ???

    [Daphne – The point here is not whether non-ministers should sit in cabinet, Mr Privitera, but whether they should do non-government work as well. Richard Cachia Caruana did not.]

  7. Antoine Vella says:

    The client is a wife-beater and an alcoholic. Perhaps Toni Abela can get him appointed Chief of Staff somewhere or make him Chairman of something.

  8. curious says:

    For The Times it was not news for the name of the lawyer to be reported in the headline. They only mentioned him in the middle of the report.

    The news is exactly that, who the lawyer is.

    Man accused of assaulting, threatening wife – lawyer reported to Justice Commission

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141111/local/man-accused-of-assaulting-threatening-wife-lawyer-reported-to-justice-commission.543611

  9. David says:

    It is not the first time lawyers do not turn up for cases. One hopes that all lawyers are treated in a similar fashion by all members of the judiciary.

  10. Xejn Sew says:

    You should ask the UTV priest how many times his lawyer Toni Abela failed to turn up for his court case appointments.

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