Police rebuked for weekend arraignments

A magistrate yesterday rebuked the police for needlessly making two arraignments on a weekend, pointing out how expensive this turns out to be. Magistrate Giovanni Grixti criticised the police for charging two Nigerian teenagers in court yesterday when the 48-hour arrest limit had not yet expired. During two separate arraignments in the morning, the two 17-year-olds were charged with insulting and seriously injuring one another on Friday evening at Dar Liedna, a home for asylum seekers in Fgura.

After hearing how the two were arrested on Saturday at 4.15 p.m., the magistrate observed that the arraignment could easily have waited until today, when the accused could have been charged within normal court hours. The magistrate had this inserted in the court documents, saying he could not allow it "to pass unnoticed" and ordering that his message be communicated to the Police Commissioner.

Police Inspector Spiridione Zammit, prosecuting, apologised for any inconvenience but explained that he had proceeded to arraign the teenagers yesterday as he did not want to keep them in preventive custody any longer, once he had concluded his investigations.

The magistrate ordered the case to proceed, once it had already started, and the two admitted to the charges.

Noting their blank expressions after having filed a guilty plea, the magistrate asked them again to confirm their plea, at which point they did not seem to understand what he was asking them.

Turning to one of them, he asked: "Are you aware of these charges?"

"No," was the monosyllabic reply.

"Then how come you pleaded guilty?" the magistrate asked, as the young man remained silent.

Magistrate Grixti explained the consequences of their guilty plea adding that they faced possible imprisonment. He then gave the men more time to discuss their case with their lawyers - Charmaine Cherrett, Franco Debono and Philip Galea Farrugia.

After some time he again asked them if they understood the charges and the consequences of a guilty plea. This time they replied that they did but insisted on admitting to the charges.

The case was put off to today when a social worker at the home will give evidence about the characters of the two Nigerians before Magistrate Grixti hands down judgement. Meanwhile, they were remanded in custody, after the defence team did not make a request for bail.

The scene yesterday was reminiscent of the case of Sudanese national Suleiman Abubaker, who earlier this year was given a suspended jail term after he pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers.

Later he told The Times that, although a guilty plea had been filed during the proceedings, he never told his lawyer that he wanted to do so and never admitted to the police.

After Mr Abubaker was sentenced, this newspaper published a series of stories unveiling eyewitness accounts of people who actually saw police attack Mr Abubaker and another migrant. A police officer has been suspended and is expected to be arraigned over the case.