Case management by the Office of the Attorney General came in for some criticism this morning as a magistrate expressed his concern at the fact that the records of the Ghaxaq double murder compilation of evidence had only reached the court on the very morning of the hearing.
The compilation of evidence against Joseph Bonnici, 38, continued before magistrate Joe Mifsud this morning. Bonnici is accused of the murder of his mother and sister in March.
The sitting was unable to proceed as planned due to the fact that the prosecution could not summon certain witnesses as the records of the case had only reached court from the AG’s Office at 9.00am on Monday.
Such a delay raised “serious questions about the management of cases by the AG’s Office,” said Magistrate Mifsud, pointing out that a copy of the note of referral could at least be forwarded to the Court Deputy so that the prosecution could summon its witnesses in due time for the next hearing.
The Court ordered that a copy of this minute be sent to Attorney General Peter Grech and Justice Minister Owen Bonnici.
The sitting also saw a forensic expert exhibit the mallet allegedly used by the murderer after shooting his victims.
The long handled implement was exhibited in a large paper sack with the expert explaining that she had carried out a comparative analysis of DNA samples taken from the alleged murderer and his two victims.
Another court expert was appointed to download and analyze CCTV footage a number of places linked to the murder.
Among these was footage from the office where the accused’s sister used to work, showing Bonnici turn up on March 26 to see whether Angele had reported for work.
Other footage from the victims’ home showed the mother and daughter inside shortly before their murder.
They were last seen on March 26 between 20:54 and 21:10, Bajada explained, adding that there was no footage between 21:23 and 22:04 of the following day. Other footage from the Wasteserv Civic Amenity Site had recorded the accused’s car spend four or five minutes at the site.
The attention of the court was also brought to an application filed on behalf of the accused’s girlfriend who, following the murder, had suddenly found herself out of the home she had shared with her partner for the past ten years.
The court was informed that the woman had been living with a friend in the meantime but needed permission from the court to retrieve her personal belongings from the Ghaxaq premises.
The Court adjourned the case to Wednesday for the purpose of hearing witnesses who were meant to testify today.
Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri are defence counsel.
AG’s office reacts
Reacting, the Attorney General’s office said that, while it would be replying formally to the court, it had the following clarifications to make:
The office first received the acts of the case on 29 April. The AG’s office had asked for, and been granted an extension until 12 June to issue a remittal or a bill of indictment.
In order not to waste time, and since it knew that there was a sitting scheduled for 3 June, the AG’s office did not hold on to the acts until 12 June but sent them to the courts in Monday’s sitting.
In fact, several witnesses that had been summoned by the police testified in the sitting.
The Magistrate’s Court had also been notified by email that this would take place on 3 June.
For these reasons, the AG’s office cooperated with the courts and went above what was required by law, so there was absolutely no case of bad administration on its part, the statement said.