Magistrate Carol Peralta’s comments that foreigners guilty of petty crimes face harsher penalties, were described as “unfortunate” by the president of the Chamber of Advocates Dr Reuben Balzan.

On Thursday, Magistrate Peralta handed down a suspended jail term to a teacher from Georgia, who pleaded guilty to possessing a stolen iPad and two mobile phones.

Dr Peralta remarked that the crime was very serious, especially when committed by foreigners after Malta had been so hospitable to them.

He also issued a stern warning that foreigners and others committing such crimes would be dealt with severely.

Contacted yesterday, Dr Balzan said the law does not discriminate between people of different nationalities. In this context, he said that the magistrate’s comments were unfortunate as they gave the impression that a harsher sentence would be being handed down on the basis of the accused’s nationality.

This newspaper also sought the views of lawyer Joe Giglio who argued that there are different degrees with the parameters of the penalties according to circumstances.

“One can feel that certain situations may merit a slightly harsher punishment,” he said. Dr Giglio added that every case should be judged on its own merits and every judge has parameters of judgment.

The administration of justice cannot be based on the basis of one’s nationality or even one’s hometown or village

“When deciding which punishment to mete out, whether going closer to the minimum, halfway or closer to the maximum, you keep in mind various considerations,” he said.

Dr Giglio said that in the case of foreigners, these considerations could be that they have abused Malta’s hospitality and the fact they were only on the island for a short time would make it harder for the authorities to catch them. He argued that such considerations would push for a slightly harsher punishment.

Dr Giglio said it was not a question of distinguishing between foreigners or non-foreigners, as every case has its own circumstances.

He said that if one only interpreted Dr Peralta’s comments on the basis of nationality, without seeing the wider picture, the conclusion would be that it was not a fair judgment.

“However if one delves deeper, the conclusion is that this is a case of applying the circumstances of a particular case to the parameters of punishment each magistrate has,” said Dr Giglio.

A lawyer, who preferred to remain anonymous, was much less sympathetic about Magistrate Peralta’s comments. He said the issue of hospitality should not come into the equation at all as it is only of social and moral relevance but of no legal value.

“The administration of justice cannot be based on the basis of one’s nationality or even one’s hometown or village,” he said with reference to another controversial judgment handed down by the same magistrate about a year ago.

The latter case involved a Mellieħa man who was facing accusations of running over an Australian man with his car, after getting offended when the victim implied he was gay. The accused was given a conditional discharge after the court considered that he had been provoked, and that the perceived insult might not have been acceptable in a locality like Mellieħa.

However, following an appeal by the Attorney General, last July the sentence was overturned by an appeals court, and the man was jailed for 12 months.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.