Chief Justice expresses concern at lack of specialised court staff

Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti has expressed deep concern at the current lack of specialised court staff and repeated his plea for a dedicated building for inquiring magistrates in his annual address to mark the start of the court year.

His speech provided a snapshot of an overloaded justice system that is facing increasing difficulties on every front.

The four judges who preside over the Criminal Court were handling an ever-growing number of cases of ever-increasing complexity, he said, adding that more cases also meant more appeals at a time when there are already more than 150 trials by jury awaiting a start date. 

“Using only two courtrooms for [these cases] will lead to the inevitable conclusion that this number can only increase,” Chetcuti remarked.

He called for stronger administrative and professional support systems in every area, in particular the Gozo courts, where the two full-time magistrates handling all of the cases there were in dire need of immediate help and competent, motivated staff.

Making a number of recommendations aimed at streamlining the justice system Mr. Chief Justice Chetcuti also stressed the importance of having highly trained specialised clerks, messengers, court assistants, transcribers and deputy registrars. He also recommended that a cohort of judges be appointed solely to preside over trials by jury and suggested that a reclassification of the crimes can be decided by juries and those which can be heard by a judge alone, in order to meet today's needs.

He pointed to the approximately 1700 magisterial inquiries currently pending, remarking that although specialised inquiring magistrates had been appointed, they were yet to be provided with dedicated premises and encouraged the Minister to deal with this problem “without delay.” 

The Chief Justice also highlighted the need for more court experts specialised in the fields of information technology and artificial intelligence. This was both because the current experts already had a heavy workload, but also because some experts were shying away from handling the most controversial cases, due to the inherent pressures arising from Malta’s small size. The result was that foreign experts were being appointed, he said.

There was no capping of experts’ remuneration, he said, remarking that it was unfair to use this fact to attack evidence in cases when there were no guidelines.

"The large influx of district and traffic cases being dealt with by the courts of Magistrates was a reflection of Malta’s increased population," he said, recommending that these cases no longer be allocated to only two magistrates.

While inviting the minister to appoint two more magistrates to handle non-criminal cases, Chetcuti pointed out that this would create problems as to where to fit them in the already crowded court building.

“We cannot continue to burden the court building with more offices, space must be found elsewhere,” he said, “The courts are the hope and shelter of those seeking justice…in a society built on common good and respect for human rights,” said the Chief Justice, describing public trust in the judiciary as “indispensable.”

“In the past, justice was depicted as a blindfolded figure, not because she doesn’t have eyes to see, but because the judiciary must only look at that which is just and right according to law when making decisions, with no regard to financial, political or social strength of the person before it.” 

“There is a great responsibility for those chosen for this service to show not only legal, practical and human maturity, in their decisions and orders, but also impeccable behaviour and humility beyond reproach in their personal life and behaviour that must cast no personal shadow over their duties, over the judiciary in general through some shortcoming.”

"Public authorities had a duty to respect the courts, observe their decisions and strengthen their standing by not allowing rulings to be disregarded or ignored," he said, adding that when the Constitutional Court orders that a law be changed, this must happen without prevarication by the legislator.

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