A Constitutional Court yesterday ruled that an application by the Police Commissioner for the court to revoke a man's bail after he had already pleaded guilty to breaching bail conditions would breach his human rights because a person cannot be tried twice for the same offence.
The First Hall of the Civil Court, in its constitutional jurisdiction, ruled that the application for the revocation of Kevin Gatt's bail was in breach of his human rights. It ordered that the acts of the case be sent back to the Magistrates' Court for a final judgment on the matter.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Raymond Pace, heard that Mr Gatt first appeared in court accused of a number of crimes on September 4, 2006. He pleaded not guilty and was, at first, remanded in custody but, on September 20, Magistrate Antonio Vella granted him bail and imposed a number of conditions.
On November 6, 2006, Mr Gatt was once again arraigned accused of breaching his bail conditions after he was caught outside his house in the early hours of the morning when he should have been at home. He pleaded guilty was fined Lm500 and jailed for a month.
On November 8, the Police Commissioner filed an application asking the court to revoke the man's bail and forfeit the Lm2,000 personal guarantee demanded by the court as one of the bail conditions.
His defence lawyers, George Abela and Robert Abela, asked the Magistrates' Court to refer the case to the Constitutional Court since, in their view, the Police Commissioner's request was anti-constitutional and was in breach of their client's human rights.
Handing down judgment, Mr Justice Pace ruled that the application would breach Mr Gatt's right not to be tried twice for the same offence because he had already been jailed for a month and fined Lm500 for breaching bail conditions. He said the police request would breach Mr Gatt's constitutional rights and also the European Convention on Human Rights. He, therefore, ordered that the case be sent back to the Magistrates' Court to dispose of it according to this judgment.