Guilty verdict annulled

An appeal court yesterday annulled a guilty verdict for a man who filed a guilty plea before the Magistrates' Court and then pleaded he had not been warned of the consequences of his plea.

Dino Bonnici, 21, was put on probation for three years by the Magistrates' Court for stealing a handbag with a mobile phone and a camera from Brass Monkey in Paceville on August 29 at about 5.45 a.m.

But Bonnici filed an appeal in which he explained that the court had appointed a lawyer for him because he had appeared in court without one and had accepted his guilty plea without warning him of the consequences and giving him time to retract it.

Bonnici said everything happened in a flash and he called on the appeal court to annul the conviction.

Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano ruled that although Bonnici's appeal seemed quite simple, it raised extremely important issues.

He ruled that the courts were bound scrupulously to follow the guidelines set down in the law when guilty pleas were filed and give defendants time to think about the consequences and to retract the plea if they wanted.

He also remarked about how he could not understand how the first court had decided that probation was the most appropriate punishment without hearing any evidence.

It was true that pre-sentencing inquiry reports were not to be ordered automatically but it was also true that the limited services provided by the probation department should be utilised more selectively.

He commented that the probation officer appointed by the first court for this case had 76 cases on her list at the end of December 2002. This was quite an exaggerated number and the court could not understand how the probation officer could see to all her cases properly.

Chief Justice De Gaetano sent the case back to be reheard by the Magistrates' Court.