A decision on whether a man who may have been wrongly jailed two years for defiling his daughter should be released was expected to be given later today but this had not yet been given by 11pm.
A hearing was held this afternoon on an urgent application filed earlier today in the Court of Appeal by the man's lawyer Tonio Azzopardi.
Dr Azzopardi told the media late today his client was not expecting to be released.
The application was filed in front of Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano who ruled he was not able to hear the case as he had already decided on it.
The man burst into tears as soon as he got out of the courtroom accompanied by a police officer and was consoled by members of his family.
It was later decided that there will be an urgent hearing this evening in front of Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi.
In his application, Dr Azzopardi reiterated his claim of miscarriage of justice.
The man, whose term had been confirmed by the Court of Appeal, on Wednesday filed an application requesting his release at the Magistrates’ Court after his estranged wife was charged with making up the abuse story.
The request was denied yesterday by Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, who said he could not let the man go as the law did not cater for such situations.
In his application in the Court of Appeal today, Dr Azzopardi said this court knew how much the man had insisted on his innocence.
It was also aware that according to the gynaecological examinations carried out on the girl, she was still a virgin and intact, in spite of her claims that he sexually abused her five times.
The daughter, he said, was also to be charged over the reports, which she had already recanted during the appeal.
However, the Appeal’s Court had not considered the daughter’s statement proving the man’s innocence and had shelved other evidence which also proved he was not guilty.
CONSTITUTIONAL CASE - LAWYER DEMANDS BAIL UNTIL CASES AGAINST MOTHER AND DAUGHTER ARE HEARD
A constitutional case over the right to a fair hearing was heard this afternoon. In this case, Dr Azzopardi also made the case for his client's release. Mr Justice Joseph R. Micallef said he would give a decision in chamber.
At the beginning of the hearing, Mr Justice Micallef denied a request for the case to be heard behind closed doors and a ban on publication of the proceedings.
The AG's team, represented by a five-woman team consisting of lawyers Sarah Portelli, Victoria Buttigieg, Elaine Mercieca Rizzo and Giannella Buttigieg and Police Inspector Louise Calleja, asked for the case to be heard behind closed doors and for the publication of the proceedings to be banned.
Dr Azzopardi however argued that it should be obvious that a case which had been heard in public since 2013 should continue to be heard in public. The court should also not gag the media especially since an innocent man was serving a jail term.
Inspector Calleja said that all the people she had questioned had been called as witnesses in the case before the Magistrates' Court.
Dr Azzopardi reiterated his call for his client's release in view of the woman's arrest and remand in custody.
He called on the court to use the powers invested in it by the constitution and order his immediate release. His client, he said, should be granted bail as an interim measure until the cases against the mother and the daughter were heard.
Dr Buttigieg said that the request was not justified because Dr Azzopardi's client was serving a legitimate prison term and the interim measure request was based on an allegation.
Dr Azzopardi argued that it was an elementary principle that an innocent person should not be in a cell or prison. The State, he said, had an obligation to ensure that cases of wrongful conviction were immediately rectified.
The State had a obligation, in respect of human rights, to provide an adequate legal frame work to encompass cases similar to this.
"No innocent person should find himself in such a situation," he said.
Signatures for a petition calling for the man's release are being collected here.