The Criminal Court has turned down a bail request made by the man indicted over a double murder which took place in Sliema, two years ago. 

In a decree handed down earlier today, Mr Justice Aaron Bugeja denied the request, which had been filed by lawyers Alfred Abela and Rene Darmanin on behalf of Albanian citizen, Daniel Muka. 

Muka stands accused, together with others, of the murders of Christian Pandolfino and Ivan Maciejowski, who were found, shot dead, inside their Sliema home on August 18, 2020. He denies the charges. 

Other courts had been told how the men’s killers had broken down the front door to the Locker Street residence and shot both men dead. Police found Pandolfino’s body on the ground floor and Maciejowski’s body on an upper floor. 

In a 6-page decree denying bail, the judge said that he was not convinced that Muka was capable of providing the guarantees required to release him from arrest, having seen the records of the proceedings against him. 

Mr. Justice Bugeja also carefully examined the arguments put forward by the Office of the Attorney General, highlighting the prosecution’s primary concern about the accused absconding from Malta, especially in view of Muka’s lack of ties to the islands.

“In this particular context,” said the court, “the eventual maximum punishment that may be meted out against the applicant in case of conviction becomes a very relevant and important consideration.”  Although the prospect of heavy punishment is not sufficient justification for continued pre-trial detention on its own, noted the judge, “this consideration must be read also in the light of the small size of the Maltese territory and of its insularity where, given that there is little room where to hide, an accused person facing a life sentence would be more incentivised to abscond or leave Malta for good, given the chance.” 

This also meant that were the accused to escape from Malta, Maltese law did not contemplate the possibility of the criminal proceedings against Muka continuing in his absence, the judge pointed out. “Therefore, once that an accused person absconds or leaves Malta criminal proceedings against him become paralysed.” 

The judge added that he was “fully aware” of jurisprudence which is critical of Malta for any failure to secure its borders due to the fact that enforcement of border security was limited to entry and exit points and that precisely for this reason, “whoever is ill-intentioned enough to want to escape from these islands knows that he can do so illegally and clandestinely by eluding border controls and adopting other channels and modes of transport apart from the ordinary and legitimate ones.” 

It was also noted that the Attorney General’s Office had placed particular emphasis on Muka’s inability to offer guarantees or in their absence, a third party guarantor in order to secure his obedience to any eventual bail conditions. 

Having taken all these factors into consideration, the court ruled that the bail request must be dismissed, given that it was not convinced that Muka would adhere to bail conditions or attend his court sittings, nor that he would not abscond or commit any other criminal offence whilst on bail. 

Lawyer George Camilleri represented the Attorney General’s Office in the proceedings.