Granted bail after 22 months in preventive custody

Marco Pace, known as Il-Pinzell, who is charged with trying to kill a police officer during a stand-off in Qormi last year, was yesterday granted bail 22 months after his arraignment.

Mr Pace was arraigned on February 17, 2005 and charged with trying to kill PS George Farrugia by firing a gun in his direction on February 15 that year. The accused has been in preventive custody ever since.

Lawyer Giannella Caruana Curran, for Mr Pace, last week filed a bail application claiming that her client's state of arrest was illegal as he had been detained for over 20 months - the threshold stipulated by law.

Magistrate Miriam Hayman granted Mr Pace bail, saying that by law she had no alternative.

Article 575 of the Criminal Code lays down that in a case where a person faces over nine years imprisonment, as in this case, the Attorney General did not file a bill of indictment or sent the accused to be tried within 20 months, the accused was to be granted bail.

Now Mr Pace had been in preventive custody for 22 months and, therefore, his arrest was deemed to be illegal.

Magistrate Hayman, therefore, granted Mr Pace bail against a Lm1,000 deposit and a personal guarantee of Lm5,000.

She also ordered that he would not leave his Qormi home between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. On hearing that Mr Pace's Qormi residence may still be contaminated by tear gas, the magistrate allowed him the possibility of staying at his mother's neighboring house so long as he notified the court where he would be staying.

However, Mr Pace will remain behind bars because he is in jail in connection with another case.

Police Inspector Jeffrey Cilia prosecuted.