Constitutional court will decide whether to remove discredited expert’s report before drug trafficking trial

The Constitutional Court is to decide whether the replacement of a discredited court-appointed expert at the trial stage of proceedings would constitute a breach the accused’s fundamental human rights, after a magistrate upheld a defence request to this effect.

The trial by jury of Austine Uche and Kofi Otule Friday, who are accused of drug trafficking, was meant to start on 1 June, but was the case was thrown into disarray after the defence cited the 29 April ruling by the Court of Appeal as a basis for its request that the expert’s report be expunged from the acts of this case.

The Office of the Attorney General had pre-empted this request, however, by having already asked the judge to replace Bajada by appointing another expert to examine the original report and decide whether it could be kept as part of the evidence.

But this move did not go down well with the defence, who claimed that it had not been notified of the prosecution’s request to replace Bajada, denying it the opportunity to make its submissions on the issue.

Defence lawyer Franco Debono argued that this was a breach of accused’s right to a fair hearing and requested the court to refer the issue to the Constitutional Court.

Proceedings were stalled before they even started, however, when the defence raised questions about Bajada’s integrity, following a judgement last April which had cast doubt on the expert’s trustworthiness.

Three individuals had filed a request for the removal of Dr Bajada’s report on calligraphy from the records of their civil case, after they learned that Dr Bajada had a criminal record involving the falsification of documents.

On 2 July, 1993, Dr Bajada had pleaded guilty before a London court to 10 counts of theft to the detriment of Air Malta and was handed a two-year suspended sentence. Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court documents show that he had stolen €59,329.

On 29 April of this year, Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri, Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo and Mr Justice Noel Cuschieri, sitting in the Court of Appeal, upheld the request.

Since the April judgement, a large number of cases, in which Dr Bajada had tendered his expert testimony have seen defence lawyers objecting to his evidence being used.

Magistrate Neville Camilleri upheld the defence’s request, dismissing the arguments the issue was frivolous and vexatious.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Mario Mifsud and Alfred Abela appeared for Mr Friday while lawyer Joe Mifsud appeared for Mr Uche.