Newly-appointed Judge Toni Abela has been rapped for having, before his appointment and while he was editor of the Labour weekly KullĦadd, caused a libel case to be delayed in an exaggerated manner by having sittings put off 22 times over a period of four years in order to present his evidence. He ended up presenting no evidence at all, limiting himself to cross-examining the plaintiff twice.

Dr Abela, as newspaper editor, had been sued by Roberta Messina on December 19, 2012 following an article entitled Tajba ghal tal-Qalba. Aleander Balzan took over from Dr Abela on November 16 last year.

The article focused on PN government appointments given to pharmacist Roberta Messina and the remuneration given for each post.

Dr Abela had pleaded fair comment.

The court found that while the newspaper article was correct regarding the appointments, the remuneration figures were incorrect and greatly exaggerated, a factor which cast a dark shadow on the plaintiff since remuneration was a hot topic among the people.

The court also established that contrary to what the article implied, Dr Messina was not given her posts because she lived in the same district as the former health minister (She actually did not) and her appointments had nothing to do with the fact that she was the daughter of the Commissioner for Health in the Office of the Ombudsman.

It was clear, the court said, that the writer’s intention was to harm Dr Messina’s reputation.

The editor was therefore fined €4,000, a fine which, the court said, also reflected the delays caused to the case.