The daughter of baron Francis Sant Cassia, who was murdered in 1988, is seeking compensation from the State after shortcomings in the police investigation, changes in Criminal Law and the 35-year delay in bringing the alleged hitman to trial.
The trial by jury of Carmelo Camilleri, who was accused of carrying out the murder on the instructions of a third party, was due to finally begin in April this year, but had to be adjourned indefinitely after court-appointed medical experts concluded that Camilleri was not in a position to answer to his bill of indictment due to his precarious state of health.
Camilleri, today 68 years old, had been indicted for shooting the baron dead at point-blank range, on the grounds of his house, Castello Zammitello in Mġarr, on the instructions of a third party.
The trial can now only be reappointed should Camilleri's health improve to the point where he could answer the charges against him, which is unlikely to ever happen.
In a judicial protest filed this morning against the State Advocate by lawyers Matthew Cutajar, Stefano Filletti, Evelyn Borg Costanzi and Nicole Galea, the victim’s daughter, Chiara, said that it is “amply obvious” that justice would not be done to the murder victim or his family.
The plaintiff points out that Camilleri had confessed to carrying out the murder, but the statement to the police in which he admitted guilt had eventually been rendered inadmissible because of changes to the law that were introduced in the intervening 35-year period.
“In spite of Camilleri’s confession, nobody was going to bear responsibility for the brutal murder of the late lamented, Francis Sant Cassia.”
Amongst other things, this was because of the passage of a “useless and considerable” span of time as well as delays and mistakes in both the investigation and the prosecution of the case, she said, adding that besides this, the person who commissioned the murder was never identified.
Chiara Sant Cassia was not kept abreast of the progress in the investigation and subsequent prosecution, something which her lawyers argue is a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights which stipulates that victims’ families must be involved in proceedings in order to safeguard their legitimate interests.
The judicial protest calls on the State to recognise the violations of her rights, failing which she would be filing further legal proceedings to obtain that recognition, as well as compensation.