Prosecution’s appeal in Matthew Bartolo case flounders, judge’s final decision due in May

After spending the past 11 years in court seeking justice for the involuntary homicide of their son, 17-year-old Matthew Bartolo, his family members’ hopes for justice were yet again left hanging during the latest hearing in the criminal case against Matthew’s former employers.

In October last year, Magistrate Clare Stafrace Zammit issued a scathing judgment about the prosecution – in this case, jointly made up of police inspectors and Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA) officials – and its failure to mount a convincing case against Construct Furniture.

Bartolo, who was working his first job with Construct Furniture in 2015, died from wounds that occurred as a result of an incident involving a woodworking machine in the company’s factory in Luqa.

Though the company’s key shareholder and factory floor supervisors faced a total of 11 charges, the prosecution could only prove one charge of criminal negligence, for which the main shareholder of the company, John Agius, was fined just €7,000.

Following that judgment in October, the office of the Attorney General (AG) filed an appeal, arguing that the first court’s sentence quoted legal articles that were not in force at the time of the alleged incident.

In a quick rebuttal, defence lawyer Edward Gatt dismissed the AG’s argument, stating that the court had no choice but to apply the laws in force at the time, and further described the AG’s grievances as “incorrect” and “absolutely inapplicable” in this case.

If the court accepts this appeal, the original sentence will be declared null, and a new Magistrate would have to issue a fresh judgment about a case that is now over a decade old. The final sentence, which will be handed down by Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera, is expected to be delivered on 26 May.

Leonard, Matthew’s father (featured photo), was present at the hearing on Tuesday. While Leonard usually attends hearings with his wife, Claudette, the couple has had to attend so many hearings that they are now splitting leave requests to make sure they can attend every one.

When asked about how he felt about Tuesday’s hearing, Leonard was as acerbic as you would expect a grieving parent with no answers to be.

“Well, we started off great this morning,” he said with guarded sarcasm. “We were supposed to start at 9am, but went in at 11.30am instead. I had to come alone today, because how far can you stretch what little paid leave we have between us?”

As is widely known, Malta’s courts face massive delays and a constant shortage of resources to expedite court cases. The Bartolo family’s struggle has become one of the most well-known examples of the systemic failures which lead to such lengthy proceedings.

Today’s setback occurred due to another of the country’s problems: Lawyers from the AG’s office could not make it on time because they were caught in traffic, leading to a two-and-a-half-hour delay during which the court heard other pending cases.

When asked about what he thinks about the prosecution’s efforts, Leonard said, “It feels like nobody knows what they’re doing and we’re the only ones suffering consequences as a result”.

“Radical change needs to happen. We started this 11 years ago, and practically nothing has changed since then. We show up here for nothing every time. What we want is to see that change so people like us don’t continue suffering this kind of mistreatment,” Bartolo added.