Bail for accused will only add more victims, court told

A police inspector yesterday made an emotional plea to a court not to grant bail to a crack addict charged with fraud, saying the result the last time the accused was let off the hook was more victims.

He said criminals should consider their personal problems before committing a crime.

The man, Jason Briffa, stands charged with defrauding four companies of just over €11,600 last month.

When his defence lawyer was requesting bail, a social worker from Sedqa said Mr Briffa would be starting a drug rehabilitation programme today and sending him to jail on preventive custody would be counter-productive.

The accused was eventually denied bail but only after a passionate plea by inspector Ian Abdilla, who protested at this line of defence. He pointed out that the accused had eight pending cases against him and was taking the justice system for a ride because he had already breached bail in the past.

"The last time he was granted bail the number of his victims increased," he stressed, turning to Mr Briffa to tell him to stop crying. "It's useless crying now, you should have thought about this before."

At this point, Mr Briffa himself spoke up. "I'm a crack addict," he told Magistrate Audrey Demicoli, as his lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell told him to keep quiet.

Dr Tonna Lowell said that although one might be impressed by the size of his client's criminal record, if one took away the convictions for not paying maintenance to his wife there was not really much left.

He also stressed that he was not asking for his client to be allowed to roam the streets freely but rather to attend a rehabilitation programme.

Nonetheless, Magistrate Demicoli denied bail.