Appeal filed from judgment freeing man

The Attorney General yesterday filed an appeal from a Civil Court judgment setting free a man who went to jail in 2002, 20 years after he had committed the crime for which he was jailed.

The Civil Court on Thursday found that John Bugeja's fundamental human right to a fair trial within a reasonable time had been violated by the delays in the judicial proceedings.

Bugeja was arraigned in court in 1983 and charged with theft, sexual assault and unlawful detention. The Magistrates' Court sentenced him to six years in jail in April 1993 and the Court of Criminal Appeal confirmed the judgment in October 2002.

Mr Justice Camilleri noted that it had taken the courts almost 20 years to decide Bugeja's case which meant he went to jail as the father of six children at the age of 38 for a crime he had committed when he was 18.