Albert Brian Rosso’s family awarded €350,000 in compensation

The wife and daughter of Albert Brian Rosso, a marine biologist who vanished two decades ago, have been awarded €350,000 in compensation after a court ruled that the state violated the victim’s right to life, after failing to properly ensure that justice is served.

The judgment, delivered on Monday by the First Hall of the Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction, followed a case filed by Mary Rose Rosso and her daughter Desire. They sued the State Advocate, the Attorney General, and the Police Commissioner and claimed that the authorities failed to carry out a timely and effective investigation. 

They argued that these failures led to the acquittal of two men tried by jury in June 2023.

Rosso was last seen in October 2005, after attending work and later meeting his business partner. He was reported missing by his wife that same day.

Two weeks later, fishermen Anthony Bugeja and Piero Di Bartolo were arrested and charged with his murder, with both of them denying the charges at first.

However, the two had given multiple statements to police in which they confessed to killing Rosso in Bugeja’s garage, using a carpet to conceal Rosso’s body and subsequently dumping it at sea, stating the exact place this was done. They also abandoned Rosso’s van near Bugeja’s home and discarded the keys at Qajjenza.

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The men were brought to trial in 2023.  The Court of Criminal Appeal had upheld a preliminary objection and ruled their statements inadmissible due to the fact that they had no legal representation present during their interrogations 18 years before. The family contended that this right was violated due to the substantial amount of time that had passed, which allowed several legal amendments to be included in the law. The admissions given by the two men where thus ruled inadmissable and  they were unjustly acquitted.

The court held the authorities responsible for the court’s decision to exclude the suspects’ confessions, which occurred because of the state's failure to implement the right to legal assistance during police questioning.

Rosso’s body was never recovered. In their constitutional claim, Mary Rose and Desire Rosso noted that the body was never found because it had been dumped in a sea area known for illegal disposal of construction waste. Since the body was never recovered, a death certificate for Rosso was never issued. This allowed the accused to argue there was no proof of death and therefore no evidence of murder.

Apart from this, the Rosso family argued that they were completely stuck in all other legal scenarios concerning the death. Since the death was never officially recorded with a death certificate, any possibility of succession concerning the estate and examination of the victim’s will was deemed impossible. The family could not get closure in any manner and they argued that they had faced a complete betrayal by the state.

Therefore, the acquittals were a direct result of  an 18 year delay and systemic failures. It was a clear result of the state’s failure to let justice prevail, which is a clear violation of the right to life. 

Judge Toni Abela thus upheld their claim and awarded the family €350,000.

 The plaintiffs were represented by lawyers Stefano Filletti, Eve Borg Costanzi, Matthew Cutajar and Nicole Galea, while the State Advocate was represented by lawyers Maurizio Cordina, Carina Bugeja Testa, and Nicole Fenech Cutajar.