17 years for courts to decide on case, man pleads for acquittal

A man who punched a bank manager in 1995 and chipped his front tooth, pleaded for an acquittal before Magistrate Audrey Demicoli, as he has waited for 17 years for a close to his case, which had been decided in 2005 with a jail term, but judgment got annulled in appeal and returned to the Magistrate's Court for sentence to be 're-written'.

Stephen Bonsfield, 46 of Qawra pleaded for an acquittal before Magistrate Audrey Demicoli through his lawyer Emmy Bezzina, as he sought closure to a 17-year saga to a "mistake" he had made, when he punched a bank manager in the mouth, chipping his tooth in the process, technically causing him permanent damage.

Bonsfield was charged in 1995 for having assaulted Raymond Brockdorff, a manager at the then Mid-Med Bank in Gzira, when he allegedly felt aggrieved for not receiving an answer as to why the sum of Lm5 was being withdrawn in charges from his account.

He was arraigned before Magistrate Jacquline Padovani Grima soon after, and handed an 18 month jail term.

Bonsfield appealed the judgment, only to have Judge Joseph Galea Debono nullify the judgment on the merits that Magistrate Padovani Grima had applied the wrong articles of the law.

The Court of Appeal however, sent the judgment back to Magistrate Padovani Grima in 2006 to re-write her judgment. She subsequently abstained from handling the case, leaving it to another Magistrate, this time Audrey Demicoli.

Bonsfield's case landed on Magistrate Demicoli's table this morning, and declared that she will be handing her judgment without hearing any evidence.

She asked the prosecution and the defence to submit their positions before she hands judgment, based on the process verbale which accumulated quite a substantial amount of documentation.

Lawyer Emmy Bezzina, appearing for Bonsfield told the court that it was quite a serious situation, where his client has been awaiting justice for 17 years.

"17 years down the line, my client is facing the possibility of jail-time for a chain of events which degenerated in a serious charge," he said.

He insisted that his client must be acquitted for miscarriage of justice, adding that since 1995, his client had married, had children and is in a steady job.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli will hand judgment on January 25.