The trial by jury of Etienne Bartolo, known as il-vojt, has been postponed again after a last-minute obstacle was raised by parte civile lawyers Franco Debono, Amadeus Cachia and Marion Camilleri, who argued that jurors could have been prejudiced by the media coverage and a clerical error which saw the jury postponed by 48 hours on Monday.
Bartolo is due to be tried for knifing a man, Roderick Grech, to death in Birkirkara in March 2017.
This morning the parte civile lawyers, appearing for the victim’s family, filed the last-minute Constitutional application to stop the trial. Mr Justice Robert Mangion ruled against the application in a decree handed down at noon today.
But after being notified with the decision by the First Hall of the Civil Court in its Constitutional Jurisdiction, Lawyer Amadeus Cachia informed Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera that he would be filing an appeal from the decree.
This effectively means that until that appeal is decided, no jury may take place.
The judge said she had no option but to put the jury off until after the Constitutional Court ruled on the decree.
The judge called the jurors, who had been waiting for upwards of three hours for the jury to start, back in to explain the situation.
Lawyers Edward Gatt and Mark Vassallo are Bartolo’s defence counsel. In a statement to the media they deplored the behaviour of the parte civile “who resorted to this easure the night before the jury was empanelled, despite it being appointed for several months. The accused wanted to have justice served, said the lawyer, but now had to wait again.
Lawyer Kevin Valletta and Maria Francesca Spiteri appeared for the Office of the Attorney General.
