Magistrate wants to clear name over community work allegations

Magistrate Joe Mifsud has asked for a case to be reopened, after allegations that a man he sentenced to community work, carried out works on his Gozo home.

Mifsud asked for the case to be reopened and for the magistrate to be given a chance to testify in his own defence, in an application for an appeal by the Attorney General.

During the last sitting in the appeal on 17 November, witness Victoria Doerr alleged that one of the appellants, Anthony Fenech, had sent her an SMS claiming to have performed tiling works at the home of magistrate Mifsud.

Documents now emerged which disprove allegations that Mifsud had engaged a convict to carry out works at his house in return for a reduced sentence.

Sources close to the magistrate explained to MaltaToday that on 13 November 2007 the flat in question was bought in a finished state, meaning it was already tiled, as part of a complex of 26 apartments.

In his court application, Mifsud says he only found out about this after he was contacted by a journalist who had traveled to Gozo to report on the story, that was eventually published in the Sunday Times of Malta on 19 November, titled “Magistrate denies claim he hired man he’d just convicted.”

“With the limited means available to a member of the judiciary, the plaintiff has already denied the allegations made by Doerr as can be seen in the article,” Mifsud said.

He now has been informally invited to testify in the next sitting of that case in January. Mifsud said he “believes that it is not only in his interest but in the interest of the entire judiciary that this issue is clarified as soon as possible.”

The magistrate asked the court of appeal to reopen the case without delay so as to confirm his denial under oath and explain the facts of the case to the best of his knowledge.

The allegations

Mifsud was sworn in as a magistrate in June 2015 and assigned a case that started in 2013, namely the criminal prosecution of Anthony Fenech and Rodney Joe Farrugia.

Both men were placed under a probation and community work order in 2017, with Fenech assigned to Arka Foundation under the supervision of Fr Michael Galea.

Last week’s Sunday Times published an article containing allegations based on the report of what had been said in court. “The SMS in question with false information is from 10 November 2016 and the screenshot had been exhibited by [victim Leif] Ahlstrom on Friday 17 November 2017 during a sitting in the long-running appeal,” said the source. “If he had that SMS for over a year, why did he not immediately report to the authorities?”

Mifsud denied the allegation that he offered Fenech to halve his community work period in return for works in his flat, while his wife Maria – speaking for her husband – said the allegations were false. “This man never set foot in our house,” she told TVM. “They have caused great harm to the judiciary, who must suffer in silence when allegations, including false ones, are made against it, being prohibited from speaking out.”