Second accused files judicial protest

A man charged with attempted murder yesterday filed a judicial protest in which he complained that a "star witness" had not been summoned to testify in the trial of another man originally charged with trying to kill him.

Cikku Fenech currently stands charged with the attempted murder of John Pace in a shooting incident on May 18, 2003.

He filed the protest in the First Hall of the Civil Court against the Attorney General, the Police Commissioner and the Justice Minister.

In the protest Mr Fenech noted that Mr Pace had been charged with his attempted murder.

Last month jurors found Mr Pace not guilty of the charge by a six-three vote. Mr Pace was however jailed for 21 months after jurors found him guilty of the illegal possession of a shotgun.

Mr Fenech noted that an eyewitness to the incident, Paul Bugeja, had been summoned to testify in the case against him. But Mr Bugeja was never called to the witness stand in the case against Mr Pace.

A look at Mr Bugeja's testimony, as given in the compilation of evidence against Mr Fenech, clearly showed that Mr Bugeja was a star witness and his testimony was "extraordinarily relevant".

In his testimony Mr Bugeja had given a detailed account of what he witnessed and how he saw Mr Pace enter Mr Fenech's field armed with a shotgun.

When one took into account that the only other eyewitness to the incident was a person who suffered from mental health problems, the importance of Mr Bugeja's testimony became even more evident.

Failure to summon him to the stand, in the case against Mr Pace, seriously prejudiced Mr Fenech's interest and went against the just administration of justice.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Charmaine Cherrett signed the protest.