I act on behalf of Connie Decelis and her son Jason Decelis and make reference to the article ‘Man and mother who left heroin user die accused of trafficking drugs in jail’ (The Malta Independent, 17 October 2012).

The report conveys a wrong impression which my clients would like to correct and clarify.

It is not true that police investigations showed that Decelis and his mother were involved.  Jason Decelis and his mother Connie Decelis had their visit at Corradino Correctional Facility, where they are serving a prison sentence.  A particularly feared inmate approached a Correction Officer and falsely reported that Connie Decelis gave her cannabis for free, which allegation does not make sense.  Then, the Correction Officer, instead of reporting the matter to higher authorities right away for the Police to commence investigations and for a Magisterial Inquiry to take place, told this inmate throw away the drug, and the inmate put the cannabis into a coffee glass jar belonging to the said Correction Officer, which inmates are naturally not allowed to have in prison, and threw it in the skip. This ‘modus operandi’ shows that the inmate intended to recover the drug later on from the skip.  Action was taken on Monday, that is, three days after the discovery of the drug inside Corradino Correctional Facility.

The inmate who made up this story was condemned to pay a hefty fine after she was found guilty of contempt of court while giving her testimony.  It is still open to the Police to take action against her for making a false report against innocent persons and for perjury.

According to the article, “The accused were said to have been near the skip in question several times.”  This cannot be true as Connie Decelis was locked inside Female Section B, while her son Jason Decelis was locked inside Division 13.  There are no less than nine locked gates/doors separating them that have to be opened by officers only.  The skips are quite far away, between the extended visit rooms and the cemetery.  Apart from the fact that mother and son have no way of finding themselves together near these skips, there are surveillance cameras in operation.

According to the article, “Jason Decelis, 35, and his mother Concetta, 57, are in jail for the drug-related murder of Rachel Bowdler, 18”.   My clients have taken their case to Strasbourg before the European Court of Human Rights.   They are requesting the European Court to declare that the State violated their fundamental human rights guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights.

When the law on voluntary homicide requires the intention to kill or to put life in manifest jeopardy, it is clearly referring to the criminal act of placing a person’s life in clear danger as a result of one’s own actions – certainly not when the person who gave the lethal drug to Rachel Bowdler has still to undergo a criminal trial on a charge of wilful homicide.  Who killed Rachel Bowdler? 

Failure to give assistance is not a crime under Maltese law. 

‘Murder by omission’ is sheer nonsense.

Dr Tonio Azzopardi

Valletta