Magistrate raps Attorney General over request to have woman institutionalised

Magistrate Miriam Hayman, this morning hit out at the Attorney General for persisting with a request to have a woman institutionalised, notwithstanding psychiatric experts confirm that the accused was doing well.

During a sitting where the woman faces charges of making a threat under the Terrorism Act in 2005, Magistrate Miriam Hayman said that she was refusing to accept any further requests from the Attorney General to hold the woman - who's name cannot be mentioned for legal reasons - at Mount Carmel Hospital, once the court appointed psychiatric experts have already declared that the accused was fine, and needed no more care.

While lawyers Charlene Camilleri Zarb and Christopher Camilleri from the Attorney General's repeated the request, Magistrate Hayman declared that she was not going to accept any further submissions on this request.

"Enough said. You should shoulder the responsibility yourselves, as I will certainly not carry it myself," the Magistrate said, adding that she wanted her message to be transmitted to the Attorney General himself, in particular prosecutor Aaron Bugeja. "I wish he was here to look into the woman's face," Hayman said.

The woman was held at Mount Carmel Hospital for a considerable time, following her arraignment for sending a threatening letter to third parties.

Her case was followed by a number of court appointed experts, and recovered from her condition, leading her defence counsel led by Giannella de Marco to file a Constitutional case against the State for keeping the woman institutionalised, when there was no need, and in breach of her fundamental human rights.

The Constitutional Court had agreed to the woman's request, and transmitted its judgement to Magistrate Hayman who ordered her release from Mount Carmel.

Dr David Cassar, consultant psychiatrist at Mount Carmel Hospital told the Court that when the woman committed the alleged crime, she was under a total psychosis. He added, that after treatment, the accused showed significant progress, and is continuing to show further progress.

At this point Magistrate Hayman stressed that Dr. Cassar's evidence was more than enough to confirm her reasoning and rejected the Attorney General's request to have the woman re-examined by a new set of experts.