Ruling on stay of judgment's execution

A convicted person does not have to request a stay of the execution of a judgment immediately after it is read out, as long as he or she requests it within the time limit established for appeals and before anything is done which can be construed as acceptance of the judgment, an appeal court has ruled.

Chief Justice Vincent DeGaetano set out the principle in upholding an appeal filed by André Sant from a Magistrates' Court judgment fining him Lm35 for slightly injuring his wife Charmaine in Mosta on January 31.

In upholding the appeal, the chief justice dismissed the Attorney General's argument that Sant's appeal was null and void because he had not asked for a stay of the punishment immediately after the judgment was read out by the Magistrates' Court.

Chief Justice DeGaetano noted that the Magistrates' Court judgment had been handed down on February 19 and Sant requested the stay of its execution on February 27 and filed the appeal the following day.

The law lays down that a person convicted of a crime had to file an appeal within eight working days if the judgment is handed down in Malta and 12 days if the judgment is handed down in Gozo and a stay of execution could be obtained upon a verbal request.

The chief justice explained that the legislator's intent was simply to avoid a situation where a convicted person accepted the judgment by, for example, paying a fine, or filing an appeal without first declaring his intention to file an appeal.

In this case, Sant had not paid the fine by the time he made his wish to appeal known to the court and his request for a stay was made within the time stipulated by law.

For this reason the judge turned down the Attorney General's request and moved on to evaluate Sant's appeal.

He heard Sant's wife explain she did not want to testify against her husband since they were trying to save their marriage.

Consequently, there was no evidence against Sant and he was cleared of the charge.