The lawyer of a man who wrote a defamatory letter to the President alleging corruption within the justice system said he felt “disturbed” over the charges the police filed against his client.
Christian Demanuele, 39, a company director from St Paul's Bay, pleaded not guilty in May to making the false claims in a letter he sent to President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca in March. The allegations were made towards a magistrate, a police inspector, and a representative of the Attorney General. He has been charged with making false claims, vilifying them and threatening them.
But the man’s lawyer, Dr Mark Busuttil, said he felt disturbed on the vilifying and threat charges.
Cross-examining Police Inspector Saviour Baldacchino, who is leading the prosecution in this case, Dr Busuttil asked whether it is a crime for someone to lament about something to which the inspector replied that a person has a right to lament about something. But the issue at stake was the fact that Mr Demanuele made serious allegations against a number of people in high authority but it later transpired that the allegations were all false. The inspector also said that all the persons who were mentioned in the letter were investigated as a result of these claims.
He also argued that the police investigated Mr Demanuele for having allegedly engaged in mudslinging and attributing certain events to these individuals.
The inspector admitted the accused may have felt hurt after being denied bail and started to suspect that there was some plot against him and this is why he wrote the letter.
It emerged in court that Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera was the magistrate mentioned in the letter. One of the allegations made by Mr Demanuel was that the magistrate had been removed from hearing a number of cases because “she is no good”.
It is understood that Mr Demanuele was brought to Malta under a European Arrest Warrant after the police accused him of fleeing.
However, Mr Demanuele is denying this claim, arguing that when he left Malta, he hadn’t any pending criminal cases and that the arrest warrant was issued a year after he left Malta.
Mr Demanuele is on bail after a request had been made by his lawyer.
The case is set to continue on 2 November.
Magistrate Doreen Clarke is presiding over the case.