Hoax bomb threats should not stop proceedings every time - lawyers
'You can't meddle with people's lives' - ministry spokesman
A number of hoax bomb threats at the law courts in recent weeks have enraged lawyers and members of the judiciary, who are calling for a system to be put into place to ensure proceedings are not brought to a halt every time.
There have been eight bomb threats at the courts so far this year, one more than in 2007, according to Armed Forces of Malta statistics.
But since this year's threats came in quick succession - with the last two made within a week of each other - court workers were made more aware of a situation which often brings the courts to a complete standstill at the whim of a hoax caller. When a bomb threat is made, the building is evacuated and police take over to establish if there is any real threat. But there is no system in place to safely verify whether the threat is genuine before an evacuation is carried out.
Despite this situation, the Justice Ministry has no plans in place to change its methods.
"So far, all threats have been hoaxes, but all it takes is a real one to show the importance of evacuation. Who would take responsibility if one threat materialises and the place wouldn't have been evacuated? You can't meddle with people's lives," a spokesman for the ministry said.
Two people are facing charges in connection with making such hoax calls. One of them was easily identifiable since he called from a landline and his number showed up on the receiver's ID caller. But in general the callers are more intelligent and manage to get away with it.
"It is a continuous disturbance. The courts cannot operate like this anymore and a security solution has to be found," lawyer Michael Sciriha said.
Another lawyer, Anglu Farrugia described the system as ridiculous: "Every time there is a bomb scare everything grinds to a halt. Even when I was at the Old Bailey in London in the 1980s for the trials of IRA officials, the courts kept on going even though there were the threats."
He said he had proposed explosive detectors years ago to make the system more efficient and to have better tools to analyse which threats should be taken seriously and which should not.
A magistrate said told The Sunday Times: "When I receive the call at 9 a.m. it is not so bad because I manage to make up for the time lost, but when the call comes in at 12 p.m. it disrupts everything. People don't turn up afterwards, and everyone disappears. It has really become a big disturbance."
Lawyer Charmaine Cherrett said such incidents were a complete waste of time. "The problem is that I have to continue working after the bomb scare and when I am bound by time constraints I am the one responsible if the particular document is not filed."