Magistrate says its Criminal Court's competence to decide on continued arrest of ex-boxer

Magistrate abstains from examining a former boxer’s claim that his continued preventive custody, five months after being charged with robbing an elderly person at knifepoint, was illegal

The former boxer was charged with robbing an elderly person at knifepoint
The former boxer was charged with robbing an elderly person at knifepoint

A magistrate has abstained from examining a former boxer’s claim that his continued preventive custody, five months after being charged with robbing an elderly person at knifepoint, was illegal.

43-year-old Sean Sinclair Pace had been denied bail during his arraignment in December last year when he was charged with aggravated theft and detaining a person illegally.

This morning, lawyer Jose Herrera filed a habeas corpus application on Pace’s behalf, claiming that his continued detention was illegal. 

Because such applications are always urgent in nature, a sitting was held this afternoon before duty magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech

As the stage reached in the proceedings against Pace did not emerge clearly from the acts of the case, the magistrate sent for Criminal Court registrar Franklin Calleja to testify about their status. Calleja informed the court that the acts were currently being examined by the AG and in fact, the case file had been delivered to the court for this sitting from the Office of the Attorney General.

In a decree handed down sometime later, the magistrate abstained from taking the request further, observing that the acts of the case had been sent back to the Attorney General on April 13. She pointed out that the Criminal Code stipulated that applications filed in connection with a compilation of evidence whose file was being examined by the Attorney General, before the Bill of Indictment is issued, the application had to be filed before the Criminal Court.