One of the defence counsel in the father-son murder case said yesterday that certain laws were being enacted to accommodate “certain people”. Joseph Giglio said that what had happened in the tampered smart metres case, was happening in the murder case.

God forbid that the court does not remain the shield of the citizen, and becomes that of the administration, he said.

Dr Giglio was addressing Magistrate Tonio Micallef Trigona, who is hearing the compilation of evidence against George Galea, 41 of St Julians, and Jason Galea, 39 of Birzebbugia. They are accused with the murder of Mario Camilleri, l-Imniehru, and his son, also called Mario, on 17 July last year. Their bodies were found in a field in Qajjenza, limits of Birzebbugia.

Dr Giglio’s outburst came at the end of the testimony of Inspector Chris Pullicino, who said that Alfredo Attard, owner of the field, who had buried the victims, had been put under a witness protection programme. The inspector said Attard is terminally sick and he had been included in the programme after an amendment was introduced last month. Attard is now able to testify freely without being given the customary warning.

The other defence counsel, Giannella de Marco, said this is a form of pardon and as a result of the amendment, Attard will not be accused in connection with the case. She asked Inspector Pullicino whether the prosecution had been considering arraigning Attard, to which he replied yes, adding that Attard would have been charged with offering the services of an undertaker when he did not have a permission for that, and with concealing the bodies.

The accused Jason Galea was heard exclaiming loudly that “Attard had been given a pardon as well, so what should I have been given”? Galea was expelled from the courtroom, but the court remarked it had been caught on one foot.

Dr Giglio remarked this was the reason why the prosecution had procrastinated for 13 months, considering whether or not to arraign Attard, so that now they were at the stage they had reached.

Today they were in the situation, Dr Giglio said, where citizens’ rights were being fiddled with to accommodate someone’s interest, including the attorney general and the prosecution, with the court being subjected to untruthful information, the aim being to amend the law. He added that Jason Galea’s residence in Rudolphe Street, Sliema had been inspected by the police.

Inspectors Pullicino, Louise Calleja, Michael Mallia and Fabian Fleri are conducting the prosecution. Dr Giglio is representing Jason Galea, and Dr de Marco and Dr Gianluca Caruana Curran is representing George Galea. Dr Joe Brincat is appearing for the victims’ families.