Defendants stand by right to stay silent in football bribery case

Two men have objected to the taking of electronic samples of their voices, claiming it would breach their right to be silent.

Magistrate Carol Peralta was hearing the compilation of evidence against Chris Brincat, 27 of Floriana and 31-year-old soldier Ronnie Mackay from Marsa, who stand accused of attempting to bribe Naxxar player Sunday Eboh prior to a First Division game against Gzira in September 2012.

The prosecution said that the Nigerian footballer had received a phone call from Brincat's brother Germaine, asking him to meet before the game. Eboh found Ronnie Mackay and former Futsal player Chris Brincat waiting for him, where an attempt to bribe him was made. Eboh subsequently informed the Malta Football Association of the incident and the MFA reported the allegation to the police, and suspended Brincat for life from professional football.

Eboh today told the court he had recorded the conversation with the accused, and had passed the mobile recording to the police.

Inspector Melvin Camilleri asked the court to appoint an expert to identify the voice on the recordings with that of the accused. The defence, led by Franco Debono and Veronique Dalli, strongly objected to the request stating that it would breach the accused's right to silence

In a lengthy monologue, peppered with points voiced by Dr Dalli, lawyer Franco Debono explained that the accused has a right to silence from the minute he is arrested until the sentence is delivered. "The accused has a right to remain completely silent and his silence should be interpreted as a refusal to answer, because if he utters 'no comment' he would also have breached his own right to stay silent."

The prosecution brought to the court's attention its prerogative to order the taking of intimate samples, however the defence countered that while the law contemplates the instances where a court can order the taking of samples like DNA and fingerprints, the law does not discuss the taking of voice samples. A court order at this stage would impinge on the rights of the accused, Dr Debono argued.

The two defence lawyers also informed the court that in the coming days they would be presenting a Constitutional Case regarding the right to silence in a separate case. In their constitutional application the lawyers are stating that the right to silence extends over discussions not related to the offence, in order to protect the suspect from having his voice recognised by an investigating officer who could then say that he had heard his voice and hence can recognise it

Magistrate Carol Peralta postponed the case for 10 October asking the prosecution to file a detailed report explaining why the court should uphold the request.

Dr Veronique Dalli and Dr Dean Hili are appearing for Chris Brincat who stands accused with attempting to bribe Nigerian footballer Sunday Eboh, while Dr Franco Debono is appearing for AFM soldier Ronnie Mackay, who also faces charges of relapsing and committing a crime he was duty bound to prevent.