PN agents demand re-opening of court case

Two Nationalist Party counting agents will today file an application to re-open court proceedings against two Labour supporters in connection with a fight that broke outside a polling station in the Euro-Parliamentary elections last June.

Grezzju Bondin and Joseph Brownrigg will make their request after Labour supporters Edwin Bartolo and Salvatore Mifsud told a magistrate earlier this week they had reached an agreement with the victims.

The counting agents denied ever reaching such an agreement.

Mr Bartolo, known as Il-Qaħbu, and Mr Mifsud, Tal-Qattus, were summoned to appear in court on Tuesday morning in connection with the fight that allegedly occurred in Żejtun on June 6. Both men are facing charges of attacking Mr Bondin and Mr Brownrigg.

The accused pleaded not guilty and were granted bail against a personal guarantee of €2,000 each.

All four men received a police summons to appear in court on Tuesday before Magistrate Tonio Micallef Trigona.

However, the time set for the case to start did not match. Mr Bartolo and Mr Mifsud were informed to appear at 9 a.m. while Mr Bondin and Mr Brownrigg had to appear at 11.30 a.m.

Accompanied by defence lawyer Edward Gatt, the two Labour supporters appeared in court at 9 a.m. When their case was about to start at about 11 a.m., Dr Gatt informed the magistrate that his clients had reached an agreement with the victims.

As is the practice in court, the usher called out Mr Bondin's and Mr Brownrigg's names for them to go into the courtroom. When they did not show up, the court decided to close the case, Dr Gatt said.

The victims' defence lawyer, John Bonello said he turned up with his clients just after 11 a.m. before Magistrate Micallef Trigona, only to be told that the case had been closed.

"My clients never told them they wanted to stop the proceedings and they never said they wanted to forgive them," Dr Bonello told The Times. In fact, he added, they would be filing a judicial application to re-open the case again.

In a statement, Dr Gatt explained that his clients had informed him that the case was settled, adding that he himself had asked the court to call the other party to confirm.

After the case was closed, the PN called on the authorities to take action against Mr Bartolo's and Mr Mifsud's defence lawyers.

However, the Chamber of Advocates intervened and spoke to the defence lawyers of both parties. The chamber noted that different times for the case hearing had been given and confirmed that Mr Bartolo and Mr Mifsud had said they had reached an agreement.

Chamber president Andrew Borg Cardona said he was satisfied none of the lawyers acted wrongly towards the court or the profession.