Student accused of assault re-arrested, released on bail

The Criminal Court has ordered the re-arrest of a 13-year-old girl whose arrest had been deemed illegal when she was arraigned and charged with assaulting and slightly injuring her teacher.

Soon after Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano ordered the girl's re-arrest she was granted bail, against no bail bond, by Magistrate Anthony Vella presiding over her case in the Juvenile Court.

On October 27, the girl was charged with threatening, assaulting and slightly injuring her teacher at Erin Seraccino Inglott Secondary School, in Cospicua, the previous day. She has since been suspended from school.

Magistrate Vella, presiding over the arraignment, had heard how the alleged incident took place at about 1.30 p.m. and the police were informed soon after.

The police did not feel it was appropriate to pick up the girl from school or keep her under arrest overnight. Thus, they called the girl's mother and told her to take her daughter to the police station the following morning which was when the girl was arrested.

After hearing lengthy submissions - by Police Inspector Alexander Grech, prosecuting, and the girl's lawyer Joseph Giglio - the magistrate had ruled that the arrest was not justified and ordered the girl's release.

He placed her under a provisional supervision order and ordered the social worker at her school to compile a report on her behaviour over the past few months.

The Attorney General then filed an application in the Criminal Court calling on the court to order the girl's re-arrest.

Dr Giglio yesterday insisted that her arrest was not legal and that she should have been charged in the Juvenile Court and not the Magistrates' Court.

But the court ruled that the law granted the police the power to arrest a person who willingly went to the police station if that person was to be charged with a crime punishable by imprisonment.

In this case, the assault charge brought with it a potential three-month jail term.

The court added that the law also laid down that the Juvenile Court was part of the Magistrates' Court.

For these reasons the judge upheld the Attorney General's application and revoked the ruling in which her arrest was declared illegal and ordered the girl's re-arrest.

Soon after, Dr Giglio filed a bail request before Magistrate Vella who granted the girl bail without any bail bond save for the condition that she does not approach any of the prosecution's witnesses.