A magistrate abruptly stopped a case yesterday after columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia called a lawyer “rude” when he insisted on her answering a question.
Magistrate Francesco Depasquale angrily put off the proceedings when lawyer Chris Cilia and Ms Caruana Galizia’s lawyer, Joe Zammit Maempel, argued over the issue.
The two squabbled when Ms Caruana Galizia was being cross examined and said Dr Cilia was “rude”, to which he asked for “protection from the court”.
In such instances, the lawyer would be asking the magistrate to take action against the person making a remark deemed to be offensive.
Dr Zammit Maempel noted that if it anyone deserved protection, it was Ms Caruana Galizia.
She is accused of defaming Maria Vassallo, the wife of the man who runs the bar at the Labour Party club in Rabat.
Ms Caruana Galizia testified that she wrote about and uploaded pictures of Ms Vassallo after her husband’s bar hit the headlines when a man was almost killed in a fight there.
The fight happened in the middle of an election campaign and, as the people running the bar, the Vassallos became partly public personas, MsCaruana Galizia argued.
She said Ms Vassallo had posted pictures of herself on Facebook in a publicly accessible album where she was seen wearing sadomasochistic outfits and was half naked.
Dr Cilia, appearing for Ms Vassallo, remarked that even in Brussels they wore sadomasochistic outfits and he had pictures. The magistrate said that had nothing to do with proceedings.
Ms Caruana Galizia testified she deemed such behaviour to be inappropriate for a married mother of one. Ms Vassallo, who was in the courtroom, expressed disapproval at the comment.
In a related court case, Ms Vassallo testified in proceedings where she stands charged with harassing Ms Caruana Galizia. Together with her daughter Kim and the mayor of Żurrieq, Ignatius Farrugia, Ms Vassallo is accused of harassing Ms Caruana Galizia during the feast of St Joseph earlier this year.
Ms Vassallo said that, during the feast, she spotted Ms Caruana Galizia in the crowd and walked over to tell the columnist to stop writing about her and her family. She insisted that at no point did she raise her voice and only waved her hands in an expressive manner but not to throw a punch.
Dr Zammit Maempel asked what had offended her and Ms Vassallo said she did not like it that Ms Caruana Galizia should write about her family’s political beliefs about her daughter’s breasts and tattooed eyebrows.