Granting bail to murderers

I have no idea if I am alone on this. But the confidence of the public in the courts and the judiciary must be at its lowest ebb.

The decision by Magistrate Tonio Micallef Trigona to grant bail to two men, one of them a Jason Galea, who is implicated in three macabre murders, is not only appalling but scandalous.

It is all the more shocking when one takes a closer look and considers who is actually spending time in the prisons at Kordin. 

The vast majority are not murderers, but people who have committed a far less serious crimes, or in some cases involved themselves in an activity which is considered to be ‘serious’ in the face of the law, but which in reality is incomparable and trivial vis-a-vis the crimes we are talking about here. 

We also believe that in some cases prison is not the solution to many of those who have made mistakes.

Shooting someone in the head is not a mistake. It is an intentional act that ends the life of a person for good. 

It is not like stealing a stereo or smoking a joint or evading tax.

In prison one finds people who have been incarcerated because they were caught with some dope, did not pay their VAT, stole because of their drug addiction, refused to pay maintenance and so on.

This is not the first time that individuals have been granted bail after having committed murder in broad daylight. And yet nothing really changes.

The guy who shot his business partner in broad daylight is not only tolerated but even allowed to go abroad and continue with his business interests, as if nothing ever happened.

Those who end up in court on minor offences start to wonder if the act of murdering someone is taken more lightly in our law courts.

I have been in court and specifically listened to witnesses and police evidence connected to these three murders. The testimony is not only gripping but unbelievable.

When the murders were committed, police officers privately reacted to them by stating that it was "scum getting rid of scum".

But if that is the way the Maltese police uphold law and order, then really we should all be very happy if we have nothing to do whatsoever with the police or the courts.

It is this sense of insecurity and inconsistency from the police and judiciary that leads one to ask:  Would another magistrate have acted in the same way as Micallef Trigona? The answer is of course a yes and a no.

To be fair to Magistrate Micallef Trigona, he is not alone in the judiciary who takes such decisions. The question to ask is, who is going to revisit this decision-making process?

Is granting bail a mistake? 

No it is not. But in some cases it is.

Should bail be abolished?

No.

But if we are talking of premeditated and multiple cold blooded murders, then surely granting bail should be denied in the best interests of society.

Anyone who murders three people and feels no compunction to murder with such ease is not safe to other people. The independent judiciary should make that judgement. 

Perhaps Owen Bonnici could start looking at the bigger picture.

   ***

I am still confused about the relationship between the Maltese government and the State of Israel. 

Surely it is strange that a Labour government which has been traditionally close to the Palestinian cause is going out of its way to suck up to Israel. Yesterday the Palestine Solidarity Network described Malta's support for Israel's bid to sit on the United Nations Security Council in 2018 as "shocking".

Spokesperson Andre Callus said it was "ironic" that Malta, which historically championed the Palestinian cause, is now backing Israel to sit on the security council when it is ignoring over 70 UN resolutions.

Such a decision, he said, “legitimises the Israeli oppression of Palestinians and sends the wrong message to a state that has repeatedly and shamelessly ignored UN resolutions.”

Last week, MaltaToday revealed that a recent visit here by Israeli MPs and a vague indication of Maltese support for Israel’s bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council has exposed tensions between diverging camps in the government.

Between 2000 and 2013, 1,518 Palestinian children have been killed by the IDF, but even this does not seem to impress anyone. If an Israeli is kidnapped or killed, the story is so very different.  

Even the news media treat it differently.

I am told that our foreign policy stand with Israel is inherited from the previous Nationalist administration. I would not be too surprised – former foreign minister Tonio Borg surely would have encouraged such a policy. He was hardly likely to take a pro-Palestinian stand.

Other foreign ministers, such as Guido de Marco, were more conscious of how important the Palestinian question was and the sensitivity of the Arab world of Malta being too close to Israel.

Today that seems to have been overtaken by the international political climate and the disarray in the Arab world. In other circumstances Malta’s present foreign minister, George Vella, would have certainly embraced a pro-Palestinian policy.  Somehow this does not seem to be the case anymore.

Now it seems that economic considerations have taken over humanitarian reasoning in this question.  

I would have imagined that there is a line we should never cross.

It is true that Israel offers various business and economic advantages and that Malta should not lose out. Yet, how can we ignore the fact that Israel espouses a policy of apartheid and discrimination against a people who are still wondering why they cannot live in their own country?

I guess Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will discard these observations and get on with his pro-business mission wherever and whenever.

It is a sad legacy of political convenience found in most modern political leaders who are unfazed by their ideological emptiness.