Girl charged with mother’s murder granted bail

The girl - who's name cannot be mentioned by Court order as the girl was still a minor when the crime was committed - was granted bail on the basis that more than 20 months of procedures have lapsed.

When granting bail, Magistrate Miriam Hayman said that the only reason she was granting bail was because the procedures relating to her case have been ongoing for more than 20 months.

The girl was granted bail against a deposit of €3,000 and a personal guarantee of €20,000.

She was ordered to report at the Qawra Police Station every day between 7am and 7pm, and was also ordered to make an ID card and deposit it immediately with the courts.

Given that the girl has been in custody since 2008 when she was 15, she never had an ID card.

This is the second time that the girl has been granted bail.

Last year, she was convicted to serve three months imprisonment for breaching

bail conditions and stealing €200. But since she had already been behind bars, the girl was moved to the YMCA.

The girl's 50-year-old mother Theresa Grech had been foun in a pool of blood at her residence in the Mensija area of San Ġwann in February 2008.

After she was charged with her mother's murder, the girl had been granted bail.

She was subsequently accused of violating the bail conditions and stealing €200.

Defence lawyer Joe Giglio told the court that the girl had been living in a children's home and it was being claimed that she breached bail when she left the place and was found at a bus stop some time later. The girl, he said, had gone to visit her mother's grave.

After this incident, the home did not want her back and her brother offered to take her in.

She lived with her brother for some time but then moved out and rented a place on her own. But when she could not afford the rent, she stole some €200 worth of mobile phone top-up cards to pay for it.

She was charged with the theft and breaching bail conditions and was remanded in custody.

Given that by last year the girl had already served her prison term (two thirds of the three months), she was moved to the YMCA shelter.

The girl will be working in a bar in Bugibba.