Arsonist pleads guilty on first day of jury trial

Martin Marco Baldacchino is to be sentenced for arson later this month after he filed a last-minute admission to arson charges this morning, the first day of his trial by jury.

Baldachhino had already been jailed for 60 days on Monday for contempt of court after failing to turn up for the start of his trial.


The 41-year-old Zebbug resident was charged on 24 August 2011 with having used a burning T-shirt that he had doused in petrol to set fire to the door to the Qormi home of the Falzon family - allegedly in return for a dose of heroin.

Mr Falzon, his wife and children were at home at the time, together with a number of GO employees who had been maintaining telecommunications apparatus installed on the roof.


Baldachhino, a now reformed drug addict, who was described at the time as suffering from serious psychological problems, had been arrested by a police patrol as he tried to flee the scene. He was also charged with breaching the conditions of a conditional discharge. 

The charges carry with them a possible 12-year prison sentence.

Since then, Baldacchino had been on bail awaiting trial, but his re-arrest was ordered on Monday, when he was declared in contempt of court and condemned to 60 days in prison when he failed to appear in court.

This morning, defence lawyer Franco Debono apologised for the absence and gave notice of appeal against that punishment. Before the jury was empanelled, he informed the court that his client was pleading guilty to the charges.

In view of the accused's last-minute admission of guilt, Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi heard submissions on punishment today.

Debono highlighted the fact that in the years since the crime had been committed, the punishment for arson had been reduced, arguing that it was an established principle of criminal law that in criminal proceedings, the law more favourable to the accused was always the one that applied.

There had been "cases of arson, ten times more serious " than Baldacchino's, which had endangered lives but which had still been punished with a suspended sentence, the defence argued.

The law applied equally to all, concluded Debono. "God forbid if in this country we were to be left to the mercy of the Attorney General" who he said, chooses to apply different dispositions of law in similar circumstances.

By way of reply, the prosecution submitted that the court was bound to deliver its judgment on the facts of the case and not those of past cases, such as those referred to by the defence.

Although the accused had been under the influence of drugs at the time, he must have been aware of the possibility that people had been inside the house when he attacked it.

The court was told how the occupants of the house had used the windows to escape, before extinguishing the flames with the help of their neighbours. During the compilation of evidence, the mother had testified to being alerted by the smell of burning, opening the front door and finding a roaring conflagration, the prosecution argued.

Aside from the risk to life, the victim's door had been extensively damaged and the intercom had been destroyed, “all for a shot of heroin."

The court was asked to bear these factors in mind together with the fact that the accused had chosen to take drugs. He could not argue that this act was unintentional, submitted the lawyers.

Baldacchino had not registered an early guilty plea, the prosecution argued, also pointing out that the fact that the accused had breached the constraints imposed on him in his conditional discharge, made him ineligible for a suspended sentence.

Sentencing is expected to take place later this month.

Lawyers Elaine Mercieca and Anne Marie Cutajar from the Office of the Attorney General are prosecuting. Lawyers Franco Debono and Gavin Gulia were defence counsel.