Pasqualino Cefai had requested his lawyer to accompany him during a drug related hearing before Magistrate Miriam Hayman but the case continued without his lawyer's presence, and this is what may have led to him to go into hysterics, a court heard today.

A number of police officers and Law Court staff gave evidence in the case against Pasqualino Cefai, the Gozitan man who stands accused of assaulting Magistrate Miriam Hayman, threatening to kill her, injuring and threatening police officers, resisting arrest, and relapsing during the hearing of a drug related court case he was involved in.

Cefai had been jailed for seven years over a violent assault in a Gozo courtroom after he pulled out a knife and stabbed a man during a court sitting. The case goes back to 2011.

Three RIU units and district police officers were called in on the day the 39-year-old tried to attack the Magistrate.

Six police officers weren't enough to restrain accused
A court heard how six police officers tried to restrain Cefai, who was in hysterics, but the six were not enough to restrain him.

It emerged in court that Cefai's sitting was not the only one being heard that day in front of the magistrate and there were around 30 other drug related cases to be heard. Cefai’s lawyer, Edward Gatt, argued that the case could have easily been postponed for later in the day since it was not the last case to be heard on that day. The lawyer said that the police and the court decided to go on with the case despite this.

A police inspector, Joan Fenech, told a court how Cefai approached the bench and started throwing insults at the magistrate, apart from the fact that he started to threaten her and use foul language. He said that Cefai even threatened him and his family and said that his brothers would find him eventually.

"This worried me; I was only doing my job but this is the nature of our job," he said. He said that Cefai pulled off his tie during the scuffle.

A police officer was slightly injured on restraining the accused inside the court room.

A court bailiff, Nathalie Ellul, told the court that she heard some commotion inside the court room and on walking in, she spotted Cefai resting against a wall surrounded by police officers, and the accused was aggressive. Initially, she heard him state he wanted his lawyer. The magistrate was trying to quiet him down but to no avail.

He was escorted out of the court room and she heard him tell the police to leave him alone and that they were picking on him.

"I tried to press the panic button for the police to intervene the minute I saw the commotion, for more police officers to assist, but somehow it did not work," she said.

The magistrate hearing the case today said that there is enough evidence to place the accused under a bill of indictment. He is currently serving a separate sentence in prison.

 

Lawyers Noel Bianco and Edward Gatt are defending the accused.