The defence counsel of a trial by jury, which had to be postponed due to reports prepared by disgraced court expert Martin Bajada, is strongly objecting to the appointment of a new expert.

Ever since the judgment casting a shadow on the expert’s integrity was delivered on April 29, many defence lawyers have raised objections to Dr Bajada’s testimony being used in their cases.

Foreseeing this hitch, the Attorney General’s Office had filed an urgent application requesting the removal of the two reports on mobile phone evidence submitted by Dr Bajada and called for the appointment of a new expert to oversee the report.

The trial by jury involving two foreigners facing cocaine trafficking charges was due to start on June 1 and, therefore, had to be postponed.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Alfred Abela and Mario Mifsud – representing one of the accused men – have filed an application, arguing that it was “very rare and exceptional” for a request to hear new evidence to be made by the prosecution a few days before the trial was scheduled to start.

Criminal procedure lays down very strict rules as to how, and at what stage, witnesses are to be heard and evidence is to be brought before the court. There are also strict peremptory time-limits establishing the lapse after which no new evidence or witnesses may be produced.

The defence, therefore, requested Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi to remove Dr Bajada’s technical reports from the records of the case and to revoke the decree ordering the records of this case to be transferred to the Court of Magistrates to hear evidence and appoint a new expert.

On July 2, 1993, Dr Bajada had pleaded guilty before a London court to 10 counts of theft to the detriment of Air Malta – of which he was an employee at the time – and was handed a two-year suspended sentence. Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court documents show that he had stolen €59,329.

When three private individuals learnt that Dr Bajada had a criminal record involving the falsification of documents, they filed a request for Dr Bajada’s report on calligraphy to be removed from the records of their civil case.

Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri, Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo and Mr Justice Noel Cuschieri, sitting in the Court of Appeal, upheld the request on April 29.

The judgment opened a can of worms, with this particular trial by jury being viewed as a “test case” since the decision will indicate the road ahead for similar cases involving Dr Bajada’s technical reports.

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.