Magistrate orders PN candidate's arrest after court no-show

A court has ordered the arrest of PN candidate Ryan Mercieca, after he failed to turn up for a sitting in a case where he is charged with threatening the treasurer of the Gozo NGOs Association.

In January, the Commissioner of Police was ordered to investigate incident in which the treasurer of the Gozo NGOs Association was allegedly threatened by the association's secretary outside a courtroom, after testifying in a libel case against Maltese-language newspaper, it-Torca.

Joseph Camilleri had testified in libel proceedings filed by Ryan Mercieca, as secretary of the association against Joseph Caruana, the editor of it-Torca over an article alleging Mercieca to have been “in a mess for failing to produce documents relating to the EU funds received” by the NGO association. Just minutes after the January sitting had ended, Camilleri's lawyer Yana Micallef Stafrace returned to the courtroom to inform the magistrate that Camilleri had just been threatened by Mercieca. Called back into the courtroom, Camilleri claimed that Mercieca had approached him in the corridor outside the courtroom and had asked whether the treasurer had sought permission from the association to exhibit the documents in court. Camilleri said he had replied by saying that he had spoken to the association's president. Mercieca had then allegedly said "issa gejja tieghek," which loosely translates to “you'll get what's coming to you.”

When the case was called before magistrate Joe Mifsud this morning, Mercieca was nowhere to be seen. After waiting for over 45 minutes, the court declared Mercieca in contempt of court, fining him €350 and ordering that he be escorted to the next sitting under arrest.

Mercieca's lawyer, Roberto Montalto, said he would be filing an application for the revocation of the man's arrest and fine, explaining he had mistakenly told his client to attend at noon when the summons was for 9am.