|
Matthew Vella
Beefed up security precautions at the Law Courts have struck a bad chord with Magistrate Dennis Montebello, who deferred all sittings on Wednesday, 7 March, after court marshals refused him entry to the courts from a side door into the courts on Republic Street.
New measures designed to increase security at the courts prevented both Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona and Dennis Montebello from passing through an alternative access to the courts.
In a decree issued by Montebello, the magistrate complained how he was refused access from the door he said he used for the past eight years. Montebello said he was left waiting outside the Court’s door until 11.00 am after demanding he be given access from the side door.
“The order was unexpected and unannounced, and constitutes a rampant denigration of the role of the magistrate, who was neither given any detail about the modality and security on access from alternative doors,” Montebello said on Wednesday.
But the new director at the law courts, John Baptist Galea, told MaltaToday the new security measures had to be undertaken: “We are no longer a Third World country, but an EU member. Magistrate Montebello refused to enter via the principal door, but he could have entered through the St John Street access reserved for members of the judiciary.”
In his decree, Montebello said he demanded to use an alternative to the principal door that would guarantee his safety and that of his accompanying porter. He also complained that no court marshal was available to accompany him.
Montebello’s court decree was also communicated to Chief Justice Vincent Degaetano in a bid to “take the necessary steps to assure more respect towards judges.”
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
|
