Robert Agius claims new evidence ‘proves his innocence’ but judge refuses request to summon investigators

A judge has rejected Tal-Maksar brother Robert Agius’s request to have police officers testify in bail proceedings on new developments that “prove his innocence”.

In his application, Agius claimed that recent developments in the compilation of evidence against him “proved” his innocence and asked the court to summon the police officers to give evidence and update the court in this regard.

However, Mr Justice Giovanni Grixti ruled that to uphold the request would be to undermine the way bail was treated in Malta’s legal order.

The judge praised the fact that the reasons for this testimony were not disclosed in the appeal application, as this would have obviated the need to hold the sitting behind closed doors, without the presence of the public or the press.

But in a decision handed down yesterday, Grixti observed that to uphold this request would be “to go against the juridical order regulating bail in our judicial system.” 

This was because the law precluded his court from hearing evidence relating to the merits of the charges, he said, also noting that this evidence had not yet even been tendered in the compilation of evidence and might not have even been collected during the magisterial inquiry.

While it was clear that the accused was still to be presumed innocent at this stage, the court said it could not allow him to submit evidence of his innocence in proceedings about bail, “as the court would be causing serious prejudice to the proceedings against him and possibly third parties, as the case may be.”

The judge said were it to do otherwise, the court would be acting ultra vires - beyond the scope of its powers.

The request to hear the police investigators’ testimony was rejected, with the judge adding that this did not prejudice their request for bail, which would be debated in a court sitting on Monday.