Looking back at 2020 | Crime central

2020 was a universally hated year. In court it was another year dominated by interminable sittings on uncomfortable benches as we strove to document the hair-raising developments coming out of the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder compilation of evidence and public inquiry (about which more will be said in a separate article).

Personally, I hated it also for the sleazy attempts to tarnish journalists’ independence and impartiality and the disrepute it brought the two professions I practise – journalism and law.

From a court-reporting perspective, there was no shortage of material. It was a year of murders and mercenaries, riots and rapes, arson and Attorney Generals. Record drug seizures and some radioactive poison too.

Sexual abuse

Ex-Burmarrad parish priest gets three years in jail for sexual abuse of minors

In June 2020, the former parish priest of Burmarrad, Fr Donald Bellizzi, was found guilty of sexually abusing three minors at a retreat house in 2010. He was sentenced to three years in prison, a punishment later confirmed on appeal.

Man jailed for drunken sex attack in Gozo

In August a Somali man was jailed for three and a half years for committing a drunken sexual assault on a Polish woman in Gozo, which stopped when a third party intervened.

Qrendi sex abuser told victims they’ll ‘never see daylight again’

One month after that case, a 60 year-old man from Qrendi was remanded in custody after being charged with asking for sexual favours from two 13-year-old boys who were his neighbours.

School minivan driver who raped 8-year-old girl is jailed for 12 years

In October the courts heard a child’s horrific account of being repeatedly sexually abused by a school minivan driver. The driver was subsequently jailed for 12 years.

Murders

Rijpma gets 30 years jail for girlfriend’s gruesome murder in 2018

Dutchman Jelle Rijpma was jailed for 30 years in December after pleading guilty to the murder of his girlfriend, Shannon Mak in 2018. Mak’s brutally beaten body was found in Triq il-Mastrudaxxi in Santa Venera, with her throat slit.

Sliema double murder suspect extradited to Malta to be arraigned tomorrow

August saw the double murder of  Christian Pandolfino and Ivor Maciejowski, who were both shot dead inside their Sliema home on 18 August, in what police say was a burglary gone wrong. Three men have been charged with the homicides.

Two charged in connection with Mqabba murder

In July, another cold-blooded murder took place at Mqabba. Saviour Gaffarena, aged 27, was found dead in a car with a gunshot wound to the head in triq il-Konvoj ta’ Santa Marija, Mqabba. His cousin, 17-year-old Vince Gaffarena was shot in the chest and face, but survived. Two men, aged just 19 and 18, have been charged in connection with the crime.

John Paul Woods confessed to murdering Charlene Farrugia from his hospital bed, court told

A 12 year-old murder mystery was solved this year when John Paul Woods said he wanted to speak to a police officer to confess to the murder of Charlene Farrugia, 12 years prior. Farrugia’s remains had been found in the Valletta bastions after Woods directed police to the spot where they were found.

‘I’ll kill her... if she won’t be mine, she won’t be anybody’s’ – mother of Chantelle Chetcuti recounts murderer’s shocking statement

A mother of two, Chantelle Chetcuti, was stabbed to death outside a football club in Zabbar in February. Her ex-partner has been charged with her murder.

Ghaxaq man Salvu Dalli, 68, pleads not guilty to wilful homicide of son

Salvu Dalli, 68, of Ghaxaq was accused of the wilful homicide of his son Antoine, 37. Antoine died after receiving a shotgun blast to the abdomen, allegedly fired by his father as the son tried to take money for drugs. Dalli denies all charges.

International

Magnum Opus: the real secret soldiers of Benghazi

Maltese arms dealer James Fenech was charged last May with breaching UN sanctions after allegedly supplying boats to pro-Haftar mercenaries. Soon afterwards, MaltaToday revealed that the boats were manned by mercenaries, part of a private military operation dubbed ‘Opus’ which was supposed to equip Haftar’s forces with helicopters and Private Military Contractors, in breach of UN sanctions.

Fuel smugglers

Operation Dirty oil suspect Gordon Debono charged with laundering millions of euro

Businessman Gordon Debono and his wife Yvette were charged in late November with laundering millions of euro, while associate Sean Higgins was arraigned for facilitating money laundering. They were released on bail in December against a deposit of  €50,000 each, and a €150,000 personal guarantee.

Corruption

Vitals hospitals deal ‘entirely led by Konrad Mizzi ministry’

Accusations of corruption continue to follow former tourism and energy minister Konrad Mizzi around, with a judge hearing the case filed by former PN leader Adrian Delia being told that the ‘deal’ which saw government pumping a total of €86 million into Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH) by the government during the first two years of the company taking over the running of the St Luke’s, Karin Grech and Gozo hospitals, was led entirely by Konrad Mizzi’s ministry. The deal is now the subject of a criminal inquiry into Minister Edward Scicluna, former minister Chris Cardona and former minister Konrad Mizzi.

Malta consul in Shanghai arraigned over €500,000 cash trove at home

A political appointee to Malta’s Shanghai consulate was remanded in custody in August after a police raid on his home discovered a stash of €500,000 in cash. Aldo Cutajar, brother of the Maltese civil service chief Mario Cutajar, was charged with money laundering.

Immigration

Migrant riots

September was a month of unrest at both Safi and Marsa detention centres, with riots aplenty. Arrests followed.

Private security guard to be indicted after Safi migrant riot shooting

The court ruled that there was sufficient evidence to indict a private security guard for attempted murder after he shot at an escaping migrant during a riot at the Safi detention centre in September.

No bail for seven migrants accused of being ringleaders in Marsa centre riot

Seven migrants were remanded in custody after pleading not guilty to involvement in a riot at the Marsa centre, during which a group of around 40 migrants revolted.

52 asylum seekers take government to court over delayed rescue and pushback

A group of 52 would-be asylum seekers who had been pushed back to a grim fate in Libya by the Maltese authorities on the fishing vessel Dar al Salaam filed a court application in November, demanding to be allowed to make their asylum applications and seeking damages.

Press freedom

Allo, Allo! skit: Occupy activist loses Torca ‘Nazi actress’ libel

Freedom of speech took a knock through a judgment defending freedom of speech this year. Topsy-turvy logic was used to dismiss a case filed by actress Pia Zammit against GWU organ it-Torca after it did a hatchet job on Zammit using a picture of her in a faux-Nazi costume she wore for a performance of “‘Allo ‘Allo.”

The court said the publication was a value judgment and observed that the publications at issue “could not be seen as anything but expressions of opinion about the facts in the photograph.” In a reaction to the judgment, Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association (MEIA) said “If courts of law are unable to differentiate between the performer and the characters they play, then today we have established a dangerous and serious precedent that threatens the work of performing artists and freedom of creative expression.”

Neville Gafa acquitted of threatening Italian journalist in migration tweet

Former OPM functionary Neville Gafa emerged unscathed in a criminal case filed on the complaint of Italian journalist Nello Scavo over a tweet he published in June, in the aftermath of Scavo’s reports on Malta’s attempted pushbacks of migrants rescued at sea. Scavo had said the tweet “Stop your dirty business. If not we will be stopping you,” was intimidatory.

The court however noted that Scavo had not filed a police report in Italy at the time, something the magistrate found strange from a journalist under police protection. The journalist had also failed to explain how he felt threatened, observed the court.

Former chief justice to head probe into lawyer’s offer of cash to Times journalist

But perhaps the most disturbing of all press-freedom related stories this year relates to an alleged attempt made by Yorgen Fenech’s lawyers at bribing an investigative journalist.

Lawyers Gianluca Caruana Curran and Charles Mercieca sailed into a storm of controversy in November after attempting to hand over a number of €500 notes to journalist Ivan Martin. The two lawyers are part of a legal team representing Yorgen Fenech, who is accused of conspiring to murder journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017.

The matter is now subject to a police investigation and a probe by the Committee for the Administration of Justice.

And that’s it for our roundup of the biggest court stories of 2020. Here’s to an eventful 2021!