The Attorney General messes up, again

Dailin Dennetti was arraigned in Court and accused of stealing a vehicle, driving without a licence and without insurance cover.  He was also accused of being in possession of cannabis in circumstances denoting it was not for personal use.  He was also accused of breaching a probation order.

The Court of Magistrates found him guilty of driving without insurance.  He was fined €2,400 and disqualified from holding a driving licence for one year.  He was also ordered to pay €390.68 in court expenses. But Dennetti will pay none of those fines.  He also gets his licence back, thanks to another “genuine mistake” by our Attorney General.

On 6 September, the Court of Criminal Appeal acquitted Dennetti of all charges because the Attorney General slept on the job.  The law states that any prosecution over lack of insurance cover has to be filed within six months of the alleged offence, or within three months of the prosecution learning about it – but never later than a year from the date of the offence.

Unbelievably, although Dennetti’s alleged crimes occurred on 10 September 2016, he was only charged on 26 September 2017 – ten days beyond the time limit stipulated by the law. “It is very clear that the six-month period stated in the law had elapsed,” the Court said.

The Court of Criminal Appeal added its own condemnation of the Attorney General.  The Court expressed “disappointment” at the Attorney General for failing to acknowledge its mistake and instead leaving it to the Court to decide.

The charge on which Dennetti had been found guilty was time-barred, the Court concluded.  Judge Scerri Herrera had no option but to acquit Dennetti of all charges, revoke all the fines and court expenses, and even order that Dennetti be given his driving licence back and be allowed to drive.

That’s another dangerous driver back on the roads – simply because the Attorney General botched the case.  To add insult to injury, we will be footing the Court expenses for both the proceedings at the Court of Magistrates and at the Court of Criminal Appeal.

A man who was allegedly found with amounts of drugs way beyond what could be deemed for personal use, who allegedly stole a vehicle, drove it without a licence or insurance, and who allegedly broke his probation conditions is back on the roads. Well done, Victoria Buttigieg.

How many times does the Attorney General have to be condemned by the courts before she is removed? Who will take responsibility for any deaths or destruction caused by Dennetti while on the roads with his reinstated driving licence?

On 6 March 2022, another erratic driver, Aden Christian Fenech, was also acquitted of all charges because of another error by the Attorney General.   Fenech had been accused of causing grievous injuries to Malcolm Dimech and Juan Mizzi, two Transport Malta officers, through his dangerous driving.

Fenech had been driving against the traffic direction on Naxxar Road, B’Kara, when the road was closed.  Fenech even admitted driving dangerously, but the Attorney General hadn’t even listed the charge in the indictment. Fenech had been driving a car bearing the registration plates of a scrapped car and had attempted to evade being caught.

Yet the Attorney General completely ignored the charges and the admission of guilt.  She failed to include these in the adjournment notes sent to the Court.  Frustrated at having to acquit Fenech because of the Attorney General’s shocking incompetence, the Magistrate couldn’t resist giving the accused a severe dressing down and calling out his “imprudent and disgusting driving”.  But the Court’s firm rebuke will not protect any of us on the roads from any further “imprudent and disgusting driving” by the accused.

Nobody needs reminding of the serious dangers on our roads as a result of reckless and irresponsible driving.  We’ve seen lives brutally ended by drivers under the influence of alcohol and drugs.  We’ve seen a drunk soldier crushing the life out of a woman while fishing with her husband.

We’ve witnessed a drunk driver destroying a hairdresser’s shop. All the news portals and media houses informed us that the drunk driver was 42-year-old Abdi Salaan Mahamad Abditon Ali, a Somali national.

Another driver rammed into six cars parked in Tower Road, Sliema, completely destroying at least two of them, while travelling at very high speed and then driving on, stopping only a significant distance up the road, presumably because his car was so badly damaged.

Yet the driver hasn’t been charged. We don’t even know whether he was breathalysed or tested for drugs.  We don’t even know who he is, probably because he’s not Somali. Questions sent to the Police Commissioner remain unanswered.

The relentless death and destruction caused by a total failure of enforcement of basic regulations and an ineffective police force is compounded by a catastrophically incompetent Attorney General.

The majority of reckless, dangerous drivers get away with it because the police don’t bother to enforce the rules. Many of the ones who are caught, simply because they’ve wrecked their vehicles and the lives of their victims, aren’t even investigated, let alone prosecuted.

The handful who are prosecuted are lucky enough to face an utterly sloppy Attorney General who regularly commits the most basic of prosecution errors, leading to the acquittal of seriously dangerous drivers. We can blame Buttigieg for allowing those drivers to remain behind the wheel, armed with the same dangerous weapon with which they’ve already wreaked havoc.

In the midst of this mess, Robert Abela is “mulling” harsher penalties for road negligence. He’s now promised that the Courts will no longer be allowed to issue suspended sentences to those who cause fatalities while driving under the influence of alcohol.

There’s no point imposing harsher penalties because with the Attorney General botching prosecutions, they’ll all be acquitted anyway.