PN opposes amendments to Interpretation Act, says they are unconstitutional maltatoday.com.mt - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from maltatoday.com.mt Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti has reassigned all of Magistrate Monica Vella’s criminal and civil case in the Gozo court, with sources saying this was down to slow throughput of work.
The decision was communicated last Thursday when lawyers with pending cases before Magistrate Vella were informed about the change. All civil and criminal cases were reassigned to Magistrate Brigette Sultana except those cases which Magistrate Vella had deferred for judgment.
Magistrate Vella has now been assigned to work at the law courts in Valletta.
Sources said Magistrate Vella had been assigned the bulk of cases that were pending when Magistrate Paul Coppini retired in October 2019. Some of his other cases were assigned to Magistrate Simone Grech.
The courts should be given the elbowroom to ban people guilty of animal cruelty from owning pets, Animal Welfare Commissioner Alison Bezzina said on Tuesday.
Her call for a change in the law came a day after a man who threw his pet dog to its death was handed a suspended jail term. The court established that the 50-year old was under the influence of anti-depressants and alcohol when the incident took place. The court also explained that it could not ban the man from owning another dog or pet in the future, because he was charged under the Animal Welfare Act, which did not make provision for such a ban.
MPs hit out at lack of commitment to fight money laundering timesofmalta.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from timesofmalta.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
If we want ‘faster justice’… we have to invest in it a little, too
Simply put: if you want a system – any system – to operate faster and more efficiently… sooner or later, you’re going to have to invest a little money into it, too
Raphael Vassallo
16 February 2021, 7:38am
‘Justice delayed is justice denied.’ As idioms go, this one may be just slightly trite and hackneyed… but let’s face it: is also a sentiment with which anyone, who has ever had dealings with the Maltese law-courts, will immediately identify.
Take me, for instance. It’s been over a year and two months since I filed my first-ever libel case, in over 20 years of writing articles in newspapers. And so far, there has only been one real hearing to speak of: way back in January 2020.