Bill calls for harshening of penalties for violence on public officials

Proposed amendments to the Criminal Code introduced by Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi seek to provide an increase in the punishment for the offences of vilification, threats or bodily harm against public officers.

Read for the first time on 22 October, the House is currently at the stage of debating the draft bill before it goes before the committee for the consideration of bills.

According to the MP, the draft bill sends a clear message of zero tolerance on violence or threats against public officials - be it police officers, doctors, nurses, members of the Armed Forces, teachers and more.

Based on information tabled in parliament, the numbers of reported cases of violence or threats against public officials shot from 117 in 2007 to 208 in 2011, where the majority of victims were police officers.

"We genuinely believe that public officials deserve all the safeguards and peace of mind that they can carry out their work without threat," Azzopardi said.

The bill in fact proposes an increase in fines. Moreover, the MP has suggested that the court should not be in a position to hand down a sentence which would be less than the minimum. He said, that the court should also not be in a position to hand suspended sentences, conditional discharge or probation.

But during his intervention, parliamentary secretary for justice Owen Bonnici said that removing the possibility for probation went against the principle of reparative justice. "You either agree or disagree with the concept... we cannot just pick and choose what we like," he said.

Bonnici said the government however agreed with increasing the fines and penalties against those who committed any form of threat against public officials.

Former home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici argued that the proposal to remove probation was because court sentences handed so far did little to act as a deterrent. "There have been a number of sentences where persons who seriously threatened or hurt public officials but were let off easily with a light sentence," he said.

Mifsud Bonnici said that it was important that laws and judiciary system defended public officials.

As the discussion tilted towards the justice system, Mifsud Bonnici defended the work he had carried out during his tenure as the minister responsible of justice.

"I did a lot... and no one did as much as I did. I cannot understand why the government keeps on talking about the SMS system when that had been introduced in 2005," he said.

Turning to Gozo Minister Anton Refalo, Mifsud Bonnici told him to confirm how the waiting lists at the Gozo courts had been reduced drastically because of the action he had taken. On his part, Refalo said that Mifsud Bonnici had indeed left his "mark" on the Gozo courts.

Mifsud Bonnici insisted that justice should not be used as political football.