In the editorial ‘Magistrate Peralta must go’ (December 20), the complaint reads that the magistrate hosted a private reception, with all its trimmings, in an unused court hall during recess for people somehow connected to that particular hall.

I see the editorial also implies permission to have this party was in fact obtained from the relative administration.

It is unfortunate the editorial fails to consider the blanket prohibition disallowing the taking of photos anywhere (at any time) within the court building.

This prohibition is in line with article 26 (1) (h) of the Court Practice and Procedure and Good Order Rules . (The other article 26 (1)(g) regulates the taking of photos during the hearing of a case).

It is all very well for the media to criticise public figures for their personal foibles but getting on one’s high horse, after one of Times of Malta’s own staff gate-crashed the equivalent of a private staff party, conveniently omitting the photo prohibition and using the editorial to demand his resignation, is a bit too much.

All that I can see is that the newspaper’s own reporter has provoked a rare knee-jerk reaction from both sides of the political divide, when the most sensible thing for both of them would have been to discreetly discourage any private receptions in public places.

Further, I don’t think the hosting of Christmas drinks sheds any light – good or bad – on the other members of the judiciary.

So Times of Malta should please stop trying to make this incident appear to be more than what it really was.

PS: I wasn’t invited to the event, and in any case I don’t think I would have gone, but that is beside the point.

Editor's note:

The editorial never said or implied that Magistrate Carol Peralta had obtained a permit to hold a party in his courtroom. The magistrate himself admitted he had no such permission.

The journalist did not “gate-crash” the party. He was at court to expose a matter of public interest involving a member of the judiciary. He attempted to take a picture to prove his claims if challenged. Dr Testaferrata Moroni Viani is, of course, entitled to see nothing wrong with a magistrate openly breaking the law by smoking in a public place and throwing a party in a court room.