Matteo Grima’s Dad Wears Black Tie To Court In Protest At Justice System
The father of Matteo Grima, a Maltese youth who was left permanently injured after he was run over by a car while out jogging, wore a black tie to a recent court sitting in protest at the state of the justice system.
Matteo Grima was 19 when he was run over while out jogging in Rabat. He slipped into a coma for 12 days and a titanium plate had to be installed to replace a third of his skull, which was lost in the incident.
The driver, Raymond Camilleri, was charged but magistrate Yana Micallef Stafrace last year acquitted him after ruling that the charges were time-barred. The Attorney General is appealing the decision and the appeal was set to commence last week.
Matteo’s father Kenneth Grima wore a black tie to court in protest at the “death of the justice system”.
“It was a protest at what happened in the criminal case, but unfortunately it turned out that I had even more reason to wear it,” he told Lovin Malta.
When Grima and his lawyers entered the courtroom, they discovered that the case had already commenced, even though they hadn’t been informed of the change in plan. It turned out that the notification never arrived because the courts didn’t have the Grimas’ correct home address.
“During the criminal case, Matteo was listed as a witness and we told the police commissioner that his home address was wrong, but the court martial still managed to find our correct address and deliver us the summons. We don’t understand how the martial didn’t manage to find our correct address this time around.”
The new appeal date has been set for 20th May.
Grima’s lawyers are arguing that, since there was a mistake in the original charge sheet, the magistrate had every right to request a revision of the charges rather than automatically declare them time-barred.
Kenneth Grima is also considering convincing an MP to put forward a private member’s bill to amend the criminal law when it comes to time-barring.
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