Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano yesterday humbly brought the curtain down on a 16-year career as a judge, eight years of which heading the judiciary when he took on the post following a period the courts would rather forget.

In his last sitting as Chief Justice yesterday, Dr De Gaetano said he never thought he would ever leave the post of Chief Justice so soon and was resigned to staying on till the age of 65 after being sworn in on August 28, 2002.

To a packed court room, the Chief Justice, who takes up his new office as judge of the European Court of Human Rights in a few days’ time, thanked everyone he had worked with.

Dr De Gaetano recalled that he had been asked by the Prime Minister of the time, Eddie Fenech Adami, to take over as Chief Justice and was given just three hours to decide. (He succeeded Noel Arrigo who had resigned following charges, which eventually led to a conviction, of bribery.)

Recalling the moment, Dr De Gaetano said he tried to get out of it by telling Dr Fenech Adami he had not been involved in civil or commercial cases for quite a while. The Prime Minister reminded him in a very subtle way that he could even find someone outside of the judiciary to take the post.

Dr De Gaetano said he did not want to cause any more problems to the judiciary and the Prime Minister had managed to twist his arm. He asked for some time to decide and Dr Fenech Adami gave him three hours. He went to hospital to consult his wife, who was recovering there. She seemed more dumbfounded than he was and told him: “It’s up to you to decide.”

He recalled phoning Dr Fenech Adami who, from what he could understand, was on a dinghy fishing with his children and a few minutes later the Department of Information issued an official announcement.

The outgoing Chief Justice thanked his staff, two deputy registrars in particular, Rita Falzon and Charmaine Bugeja, who he said should take half the credit for cutting the number of pending civil and constitutional appeals.

Dr De Gaetano rounded up his speech by thanking his family and God who had been with him throughout and gave him support through difficult times.