AG appeals decision to award damages to man accused of rape because of indictment delay

The attorney general has filed an appeal to a decision which awarded a man accused of raping his daughter €3,000 in damages after a court declared that his right to justice within a reasonable time had been breached by a two-year delay in the filing of his indictment.

The man was charged with rape on 4 January 2011 and was consistently denied bail until September 2013, after 31 months in pre-trial detention – over the legal maximum of 20 months.

The prosecution had declared its evidence closed in April 2012, but the attorney general had subsequently filed a string of applications asking for more time to present the bill of indictment.

The indictment was finally issued in 2013. A number of constitutional cases were filed, as the man awaited a date for the trial’s commencement before the Criminal Court.

Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti heard the accused’s daughter testify that her father had spent 31 months in jail and that her mother had ended up destitute, often unable to feed her children, and reliant on charity.

Many requests for bail were made, but all were turned down, the plaintiff told the court.

The man claimed to be chronically ill and argued that he should have been treated as a vulnerable person when his statement to the police was taken without a lawyer present.

The court heard how, during his interrogation, he had denied participating in sexual activities with his daughter, but had allegedly been told by his interrogator that his daughter would be arrested for lying to the police if he did not admit to the charge.

He added that in prison he was not able to receive the medical treatment he required and his health had suffered as a result, as had his relationship with his family. He had been denied access to his children for 11 months, he said. He demanded compensation for the suffering he had endured.

But in court, the judge observed that there were valid reasons for the attorney general to oppose the man’s bail requests and that the man had to bear a lot of the responsibility for not being granted bail. Upon the lapse of 20 months in custody, the accused had not taken any steps to request bail, which the court could not grant of its own accord, it said.

The only unreasonable delay in the case was the two years taken by the attorney general to file the bill of indictment, said the court.

In addition, the applicant had not shown to the satisfaction of the court that his health had deteriorated as he claimed or that the authorities had failed him in that respect.

Neither had they failed to assist the man in maintaining contact with his immediate family, aside from the obvious problems arising from the delicate nature of the case.

The allegation of threats being made by his interrogator was an issue that would be dealt with by the Criminal Court at trial, said the court.

Finding a breach only in respect to the delays in which the attorney general had not issued the bill of indictment, the First Hall of the Civil Court (Constitutional Jurisdiction) awarded him €3,000 in compensation, to be paid by the attorney general. The attorney general has given notice of appeal.