Court gives throat-slash mugging victim opportunity to be heard before sentencing her assailant

A judge has suspended a case in which an accused has admitted to slashing a woman’s throat in a near-deadly mugging, deciding to hear the victim’s wishes under the Victims of Criminality Act

In what is understood to be a first for Maltese courts, a judge has suspended a case in which an accused has admitted to slashing a woman’s throat in a near-deadly mugging, deciding to hear the victim’s wishes under the Victims of Criminality Act.

Judge Giovanni Grixti made the ruling in the case against Abdelsalam Rawad Briga, who is accused of cutting the throat of a young woman from Marsaxlokk.

In August 2016, Briga had approached the victim and her friend, a 33-year-old woman from Poland, at Sqaq Lourdes in St. Julian’s and tried to steal their handbags. At one point, the man took out a knife and tried to cut the Maltese woman’s throat before making off with her handbag. Photos taken at the scene of the crime showed a blood-stained pavement, while a nearby car was also covered in blood.

The victims had been given first aid by passers-by who also called an ambulance. The Maltese woman was then taken to Mater Dei Hospital, where she was treated for serious, although not life-threatening, injuries. It was not the first time that the man had been convicted of theft aggravated by violence. He was jailed for 18 months in late 2016 for another violent robbery committed against a young man.

The compilation of evidence having since closed, Briga earlier today pleaded guilty before the Criminal Court as part of a plea-bargaining agreement with the Attorney General’s office.

But instead of proceeding directly to judgment, this time the court opted instead to first notify the victims. This right, conferred by the Victims of Crime Act, grants the victim the faculty of being given information on the state of the proceedings. Court sources said it was the first time that this particular article of the law had been utilised.

The Victims of Crime Act, which was introduced in 2015 and amended in 2018, entitles victims of crime to free legal aid with no means test being undertaken and for victims and offenders to be spoken to separately by the police. This Act also states that a victim is offered the opportunity to be notified when the person convicted is released or has escaped, from detention. In the case of an escape, the victim will be provided relevant measures to ensure their protection.

Lawyer Marc Sant was legal aid counsel to Briga. Lawyer Nadia Attard appeared on behalf of the office of the Attorney General.