A man has been awarded €1,500 in moral damages after a court found that his fundamental human right to a fair hearing had been violated in the course of criminal proceedings filed against him.

Joseph John Gatt filed his constitutional application in the First Hall of the Civil Court against the Registrar of Courts, the Permanent Secretary in the Justice Ministry and the Attorney General.

He told the court that following a complaint filed by his wife, he had been charged, in February 2000, with domestic violence. The proceedings against him took over seven years to be concluded and he was finally acquitted of all charges in October 2007.

Mr Gatt claimed that this delay in the judicial proceedings was in violation of his fundamental human right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time.

Mr Justice Joseph R Micallef noted that the criminal action against Mr Gatt had been beset with irregularities. The proceedings against him had commenced in a summary manner but the Magistrates Court had then ruled, in July 2007 when the presiding magistrate had been changed, that the case ought to have been heard in a compilation of evidence.

In October 2007 it was once again decided to hear and decide the case in a summary manner and the court delivered judgment acquitting Mr Gatt of all charges later that month.

In today’s judgment the court concluded that there was no reasonable justification for the delays in Mr Gatt’s case, nor did he bear any responsibility for the delay. The case was not a complex one.