The court has turned down a request filed by the Attorney General to revoke a judgment, which it deemed as unconstitutional, which imposed a house arrest on a care home worker. The care worker is charged with stealing more than €90,000 from an elderly resident. 

On 26 April, the court had ordered 55-year-old Michelina Grech not to leave her house pending court proceedings. She was being charged with stealing €90,000 from an 89-year-old woman who resides at a care home for the elderly. Grech is accused of stealing the money making use of the elderly woman's chequebook.

The housewife from Rabat was charged with misappropriation, fraud and theft. The prosecution, led Inspector Yvonne Farrugia, requested that bail is refused until the elderly woman and her brother are called to testify.

Defence lawyers Franco Debono, Martin Fenech and Amadeus Cachia contested the charges and asked the court for bail. The court had granted bail to the woman against a deposit of €1,000 and a personal guarantee of €15,000. The accused was ordered to reside with her brother.

In less than 48 hours after the court’s decision, the Attorney General filed an application requesting the revocation of the bail granted to Michelina Grech. The AG argued that the bail condition was not legal and anti-constitutional.

However, the defence lawyers rebutted that their client was happy with the conditions imposed. The defence argued that if her rights had been breached, the prerogative to raise the complaint was hers and hers alone.

Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi upheld the defence’s arguments and turned down the AG's request. He explained that house arrest was not excluded from Maltese criminal law, but still fundamentally different from detention at the prison of Corradino. “While restricting the movements of the accused, house arrest has the advantage of leaving the accused with her family.”