Bail refused to man held in custody for over a month because of pandemic closure

A man arrested for an alleged incident of domestic violence has had seen his request for bail rejected despite having already spent a month in police custody because of the COVID-19 related court closure.

The man, who is accused of grievously injuring his girlfriend, illegal arrest, criminal damage, stalking, harassing and threatening her, had been refused bail upon his arraignment as the victim, who is the only eyewitness, had not yet testified - partly, the man’s lawyer says, because she would incriminate herself if she did so.

“This alleged victim hit the man in the head with a bottle,” said lawyer Luciano Busuttil, adding that although it was the man who had required hospitalisation, police had only arrested him. He asked for bail in view of the fact that the man had effectively been detained indefinitely due to the fact that the court would not grant bail until all witnesses were heard and, as things stood, no hearings could be held.

In a decree on the bail request, Magistrate Joe Mifsud observed that the accused had already been found guilty of offences in the past and was now accused of committing crimes during the operative period of a suspended sentence. This matter had to be given importance when examining the charges, said the magistrate.

Without getting into the merits of the case, the court stated that domestic violence is always wrong and could never be justified, irrespective of the circumstances which led to the violence. The magistrate made reference to landmark judgments, which dealt with similar cases and which established the State’s positive obligations towards the respect to private and family life.

In view of all the circumstances of the case, the court said that the gravity of the charges and the fear that the accused would commit further crimes, left it no choice but to deny the bail request.

Inspector Priscilla Caruana Lee is prosecuting.

Lawyer Luciano Busuttil is defence counsel.