Most people agree with the saying that ‘the law is an ass’. Every now and again we come across a judgment which proves that this is indeed the case. In this vein we have the judgment given by Magistrate Carol Peralta in what has become known as ‘The Mellieħa Jibe Case’ or alternatively ‘The Gay Jibe Case’.

Jaws across the country fell open when the report upon the judgment was published- Claire Bonello

Described in that manner it sounds like some cosy mystery story by Enid Blyton on the lines of The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat or The Mystery of the Missing Necklace. In reality it’s a case where a man deliberately drove into another, causing grievous injuries and permanent damage and got away with the equivalent of a pat on the back.

In the circumstances, you’d have thought that punishment would be swift and severe. Instead, Magistrate Peralta concluded that a conditional discharge (not even a slap on the wrist, more of a little tickle) would be an appropriate punishment in the circumstances, as the attack had been provoked. But there was more from the bench about the nature of the provocation.

“The accused lives in Mellieħa and that’s why, in his mind, he felt he had a reputation to defend in Mellieħa,” the magistrate noted, “so, although, in itself, there was nothing wrong in what was said, given that the insinuation that the accused could be gay was made in Mellieħa, in front of other residents, it is possible that for the accused and other Mellieħa citizens, this was unacceptable,” the magistrate noted.

Jaws across the country fell open when the report on the judgment was published. In one full swoop the court had branded the residents of Mellieħa as a community of homophobic backwood bunnies and apparently justified physical violence as a form of retaliation to verbal insults.

The latter is the most worrying aspect of the judgment as it implies that any form of provocation – real or perceived – is enough to warrant a reduction in sentence for the accused.

The law does provide for a lighter punishment if the attack is provoked, but I’m sure legislators would not consider the uttering of the word ‘pufta’ accompanied by obscene gestures as a ‘Get Out Of Jail Free’ card for someone who used his car to practically cripple someone else. Even more so when the attack was not an immediate and instinctive reaction to the ‘provocation’ but one which occurred sometime later, when the accused was driving home, presumably after having had some time to calm down after the slight to his fragile ego.

If this judgment is not overturned on appeal, we will have a potentially worrying legal precedent of the judicial sanctioning of violent thugs exploiting the provocation defence by claiming that they have been insulted, mocked or spurned.

As it is we have a situation where the forces of law and order run them­selves ragged trying to chuck authors in jail for writing rude stories and where thugs are free to run people down to protect their reputation.

• Some four or five years ago, you couldn’t open a newspaper without coming across Frank Portelli going on about his “serious suspicions” about the costs involved in building Mater Dei, and wondering about “commissions” that may have been paid out and generally questioning the cash being poured into Mater Dei.

There was one notable interview with the former Nationalist candidate who signs off comments as Frank4U or 2BFrank, where Portelli said he was sure that the costs involved were too high not to have been artificially inflated.

He compared it to a similar hospital built in Scotland, which had the same equipment as Mater Dei. The cost for this hospital was £206 (€255) million, including purchase of the land and the salaries of doctors. So, asked Portelli, why has our hospital cost twice as much?

The former Nationalist candidate also pointed out that the new mortuary room at Mater Dei was large enough to handle about 6,000 post-mortems a year, when only an average of 300 post-mortems were held annually in Malta.

He concluded by saying: “What I want is an explanation of how taxpayers’ money has been spent. Tell me that you are waiting for some epidemic which will kill 6,000 people, and I would understand why this hospital has cost so much.”

Some years down the line, we hear more about the lease and possible sale of Portelli’s St Philip’s Hospital to the Government than his anxious queries as to how the taxpayer’s money is being spent.

Seeing as one of the watchdogs of the public purse is no longer yapping loudly any more, maybe we should have that parliamentary debate as to how come we need another hospital when the paint has barely dried on the state-of-the-art hospital which cost us so much.

cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt

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