The judiciary should draw up proposals to enhance security at the law courts to ensure that lawyers, witnesses and all parties involved in a case are safe, Madam Justice Jacqueline Padovani said yesterday.
She referred to the recent case in the Gozo law courts, when a man was stabbed and a lawyer injured during a sitting.
“There is the need to address the problem of security at the law courts in Malta and Gozo. The traumatic experience that took place in the presence of our colleague Magistrate Josette Demicoli (in Gozo)… can not repeat itself,” she said.
Madam Justice Padovani, who was the first woman to be appointed a magistrate 21 years ago, was making recommendations to improve the workings of the courts during her first speech as a judge yesterday.
She started by thanking all those people who supported her during her career including her grandmother, who made the lace collar she was wearing.
Recently, she said, the law courts and the judiciary had been criticised in the media. Freedom of expression was important but had to be based on truth and facts. Some comments and articles led the public to unfairly believe members of the judiciary were doing nothing and that the outcome of their judgements was wrong. However, facts proved otherwise.
In 2010 a total of 22,700 cases had been filed in court and 21,500 were decided. In 2011 22,000 were filed and 21,600 decided.
This year, until March, 7,178 cases were filed and 7,410 decided – more than those filed. This showed that judges and magistrates were striving to do their best. This did not mean there were no problems, such as backlogs. But the will to work was there, despite the lack of resources, halls and staff.
Madam Justice Padovani then shared a few thoughts on how to improve the system.
The duty magistrate of the day should be assigned a clerk to specifically handle work brought about by inquiries and other duties.
All magistrates and judges should have a judicial assistant and there should be a study of the system that sends case documents from the law courts to the Attorney General’s office.
Documents were spending too much time at the AG’s, with an average ratio of six weeks there and four weeks in court.
She pointed to the lack of resources at the AG’s office, adding there should be an AG lawyer in all halls where compilations of evidence were going on. Cases such as theft, with no violence, need not require a magisterial inquiry – this would free up funds for staff.
She added that when recommendations are drawn up to improve the system, judges and magistrates ought to be consulted.
Reuben Balzan, president of the Chamber of Advocates, also spoke about how the media criticised the judiciary, saying some reports were aimed at creating sensationalism.
He called for cooperation among the judiciary to allocate time slots to cases and noted member-specific issues such as judgement delays. He asked judges to resolve problems they could control and on the executive to address lack of staff and resources.