Allegations made against magistrate 'found to be false'

A man charged with sending the President a letter containing spurious allegations about individuals in positions of authority had – amongst other things - alleged that magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera had some of her cases reassigned to other magistrates “because the magistrate was not good.” 


39 year-old Christian Demanuele was arrested in May and charged with making calumnious accusations about a magistrate, a police inspector and a representative from the Office of the Attorney General, vilifying and threatening them. 

Demanuele is believed to have been brought to Malta on the strength of a European Arrest Warrant, after he absconded from the island whilst he was undergoing criminal proceedings for money laundering. Magistrate Scerri Herrera had been the inquiring magistrate in his case.

Today, lawyer Mark Busuttil said he felt “disturbed” at the inclusion of “vilification” and “making threats” in the charges filed against his client. Busuttil cross-examined prosecuting police Inspector Saviour Baldacchino, asking whether complaining had become a crime.

In his reply, however, the inspector pointed out that all of the serious allegations Demanuele had made about a number of persons in positions of authority, had been found to be false, upon investigation.

Although he was eventually granted bail, Demanuele had been remanded in custody for a time - a fact which the inspector surmised, may well have caused him to suspect that he was the subject of some kind of conspiracy, leading him to pen the letter.

Demanuele however, denied this and is claiming that the arrest warrant was issued a year after he had had left the island.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke will continue to hear evidence when the case resumes on 2 November.