Courts 'have been placing too much emphasis on the rights of the accused' magistrate says as he denies bail

Magistrate Joseph Mifsud has denied a request for bail made by 48-year-old Herman Sant from Dingli, saying that the courts had recently been paying too much attention to the rights of the accused.

Sant is being held on charges of possession of cocaine and heroin not exclusively for his personal use and breaching bail given to him in connection with another case in July 2016.

In a decree handed down on Monday, denying a request for bail by Sant’s lawyers, Mifsud said that a number of factors and competing interests – amongst them that of the accused together with his family and the wider interests of society.

The magistrate said that the court felt concerned that in the last few years, it had “placed too much emphasis on the rights of the accused…not giving enough attention to the needs of those living in our society who also need the protection of the courts.”

“There is an urgent need that when discussing bail, aside from Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, we should also bear in mind Article 2 and the obligation of the State to protect the lives of all those who live in these islands.”

He argued that it was in the common interest that the courts give direction in a society which has lost many of its strong human values.

For this reason, the court said that on the balance of the serious drugs charges and his previous convictions, it was denying bail to the accused.

Inspector Justine Grech is prosecuting. Lawyers Gianluca Caruana Curran and Charles Mercieca are defence counsel.