Is there something amiss in a system of justice that sends a man to jail for handling a stolen mobile phone, subsequently returned to its owner, and awards a suspended jail sentence to a driver who, aged 20 – uninsured and under the influence of alcohol – ran into and killed a cyclist?

Both guilty parties had previous court records. The case of the stolen phone was adjudged within two weeks of the offence; the conviction of manslaughter was reached over 10 years after the incident.  (See reports in Times of Malta online, March 27.)

Am I alone in wondering if these contrasting procedures and outcomes might be related to the fact that the phone thief was Somali and the dead cyclist bore a name that might be Somali as well?  What if the latter had been driving under the influence and the cyclist were named Zammit?

Justice should be colour blind, not colour coded.