Police sergeant requests damages

A police sergeant yesterday filed a judicial protest in the Civil Court holding the Attorney General and the Police Commissioner liable in damages.

Joseph John Grech claimed he had stood trial for attempted murder but had been acquitted of all charges.

He had subsequently filed a constitutional case against the Attorney General in which he had requested a remedy for the violation of his right to a fair trial within a reasonable time.

The court had upheld his claim and had found that the passage of 12 years for the trial to take place was in breach of his rights.

Grech claimed that while he was undergoing the criminal proceedings he had been suspended on half pay from the police force, and it was only after the trial ended that he was integrated into his grade of police sergeant.

He had sustained serious damages consisting in loss of income and in loss of the possibility of promotion within the police force.

He called on respondents to meet for the payment of the damages.

Dr José Herrera and Dr Edward Zammit Lewis signed the protest.