Teen party organiser acquitted of slander

The courts have rejected an appeal filed by the Attorney General against the acquittal of DJ Joel Caruana from charges of slandering the Police Force on Facebook after they refused to issue a permit for a party he was organising.

The Children's Commissioner had written to Police Superintendent Carmelo Bartolo, informing him that the party, which had been due to take place in December 2013 at Koyote Club in Paceville, had allegedly been aimed at attracting underage youths and pointed out that Caruana had previously been convicted of corrupting minors.

25 year-old Caruana, a DJ and party organiser, had been sentenced to a 10-month prison term, suspended for two years, for engaging in sexual acts with a 13-year-old girl in 2010. He was subsequently convicted of defilement in December 2013 after being photographed cupping the breast of a 14-year-old girl at one of his parties.

He was also charged with defiling his 15 year-old girlfriend last July.

Supt. Bartolo had sent for the club's manager, who had not heard of Caruana and who took it upon himself to cancel any bookings related to this activity.

The police were later informed that the party's venue had changed to Numero Uno in Rabat and after contacting that club's management, the organisers switched venue again, this time to a Hal Far establishment called “Caribbean.”

The owner of that club told the police that Joel Caruana had approached him for permission to organise a party at his venue, but said that it was never held because Caruana had not been granted police permission.

A police superintendent had testified to calling Caruana and ordering him not to organise this party. Caruana had allegedly replied that he had no problem with this request and had posted a note on Facebook, explaining that the police had not issued a permit for the activity.

The police felt his Facebook commentary on the matter to be insulting and defamatory and had eventually filed charges which included misuse of electronic equipment, committing a crime during the operative period of two suspended sentences and relapsing.

After the court of first instance cleared Caruana of all charges, the Attorney General had filed an appeal.

Madame justice Edwina Grima, presiding the Court of Criminal Appeal, noted that the first court had been incorrect when it cleared the accused because it could not positively attribute the authoriship of the offending posts to the accused.

However the judge held that the prosecution had failed to sufficiently prove the link between Caruana and the person controlling the page, which would establish the veracity of Caruana's claims that anyone could comment on the page.

Although it conceded that this was probably the case, the court pointed out that the link had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt and that this was the level of proof required in criminal cases.

The court therefore upheld the decision to acquit Caruana.

Lawyers Veronique Dalli and Dean Hili defended Caruana.