Darren Desira, the man at the heart of the Judge Ray Pace bribery case, is claiming that his right to freedom is being breached because he has not been granted bail despite having a pending appeal that took almost two years to be appointed.

Mr Desira filed a constitutional application in the First Hall of the Civil Courts, claiming that his right had been breached and calling on the court to order his release.

An 18-year jail term handed down to Mr Desira in November 2012 led to two men – the late Raymond Caruana and Sandro Psaila – being charged with attempting to bribe former Judge Pace in order to use his influence for a long prison sentence to be imposed on Mr Desira.

Dr Pace, himself was accused of bribery and trading in influence. He resigned in December 2012 and was found dead in May 2013.

In the application, signed by lawyers Giannella de Marco and Stephen Tonna Lowell, he noted that he had been arrested in December 2001 over drug-related charges and was granted bail in June 2002.

The Attorney General decided that he should stand trial in the Criminal Courts and, in November 2012, he admitted to conspiring to deal in drugs and was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment and fined €46,800.

The following month he filed an appeal. When it emerged that the judge may have been influenced by another judge in handing down the punishment, they requested that the proceedings in the Criminal Court be declared null. 

Almost two years after the appeal was filed, and given that it was not even appointed for hearing, he made a bail request.

The law does not allow an accused before the Criminal Court to benefit from bail, unlike people tried in the Magistrates’ Court.

As part of the bail request lawyers representing Mr Desira asked the court to allow them to bring evidence to prove that this case had extraordinary elements that had to be taken into account.

Their request was turned down as was the request for bail.

Mr Desira noted that he also asked Justice Silvio Camilleri, who was one of three judges to preside over his bail hearings, to step down given that he was deputy Attorney General when the Attorney General had decided to send his case to the Criminal Court. This was turned down.

In light of this he took their case to a constitutional level. Today, former Assistant Commissioner Neil Harrison testified before Madam Justice Lorainne Schembri Orland and said that he was the main prosecuting officer in the drug case against Mr Desira.

Judge Ray Pace had called him and asked him to go to his chambers to speak to him about something unrelated. This was not normal practice.

He went to his chambers on December 5, 2012, and they spoke about the matter. Then the judge mentioned two judgments to him including the one which Mr Desira was jailed for 18 years.

The judge told Mr Harrison that had he (the judge) not intervened then Mr Desira would have got a more lenient punishment. Dr Pace was not involved in the case against Mr Desira, before the Criminal Court, as the judgment had been handed down by Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano.

Mr Harrison said that, at that point, he did not think much about Dr Pace’s comment. He thought that, perhaps, it was normal practice for judges to consult between them before handing down a judgment. 

Sometime after this incident Police Commissioner John Rizzo called him to his office and told him to take Mr Desira to police HQ. Mr Desira was in prison at the time.

Once there Mr Rizzo mentioned “a judge” to Mr Desira.

Mr Harrison said that, based from what he heard Mr Rizzo say, he thought back to his conversation with Dr Pace and gave it a whole new interpretation.

So, when Mr Rizzo spoke about a judge Mr Harrison mouthed to him whether he was referring to Dr Pace and Mr Rizzo nodded.

 

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