A newly-appointed judge today called for a radical change in the way criminal cases are dealt with in court, starting from a shift to a prosecution led by the Attorney General's office rather than by a police inspector.
Mr Justice Giovanni Grixti also called for a special pool of magistrates to deal with, exclusively, magisterial inquiries, which are currently conducted by magistrates with an endless list of criminal cases.
He made his inaugural speech in the presence of, among others, President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri and Justice Minister Owen Bonnici. Also present were several members of the judiciary and the legal profession.
With his 19-year experience as a magistrate, Mr Justice Grixti packed his inaugural speech with suggestions of procedural changes which, he hoped, would change the Maltese justice system.
His suggestions included that of having a pool of magistrates to deal with magisterial inquiries. "Having an inquiring magistrate would certainly deliver quicker and less costly results," he said.
Mr Justice Grixti did not only complain about the workload of magistrates but also that of police inspectors. With this in mind, he suggested that criminal cases ought to be led by lawyers from the Attorney General's office rather than by police inspectors. This suggestion surfaces time and time again but never seems to given the required weight.
“We must be realistic and understand that police inspectors are inundated with an exaggerated amount of cases, together with their other duties,” he said, adding that this was often leading to the "unacceptable delays" in court.
He said he was convinced that it would be far more efficient if the AG's office were to take the lead of prosecutors of criminal cases. He said that inspectors should only serve as a witness and not a prosecutor, spending their time in court in the mornings.
The new judge also lamented about magistrates' workload and how statistics issued from time to time on pending cases did not do justice with the particular member of the judiciary.
While he agreed with the publication of such figures, he explained that more often than not, a magistrate inherits cases from other magistrates who have retired or would have been promoted, and as result their number of pending cases "shoots up in a matter of days, even if the member of the judiciary had made it a point to achieve a steady pace in completing cases".
He said there were times when he inherited 700 cases, some of which dated back to the 1970s.
The event was also addressed by Chamber of Advocates' president George Hyzler, who criticised the proposed appointment of court attorneys as one of the methods to speed up the judicial process.
While lauding the proposal, since it was aimed at reducing the 1,500 civil and commercial cases awaiting final judgment, he expressed reservations about the appointments which are expected to be positions of trust. Court attorneys will be drafting court sentences which are then endorsed by the presiding judge.
He questioned who will be choosing the team and whose trust they will enjoy and also expressed concern that lawyers would not be able to request that they abstain from involving themselves in the specific case since lawyer will not know who drafted the decision.
Dr Hyzler proposed the appointment court attorneys through a transparent process led by the Commission for the Administration of Justice. In his speech, he also kept up his criticism at how members of the judiciary are being chosen, saying the "umbilical cord" connecting the executive to the judiciary had to be removed once and for all.