11/02/2013

OF CRIMINAL APPEAL (INFERIOR)

QUINTANO LAWRENCE

THE POLICE vs HAMMOND MICHAEL LEONARD PAUL

ECLI:MT:AKI:2013:79230

FINAL JUDGEMENT

THE POLICE vs HAMMOND MICHAEL LEONARD PAUL - 491/2011 - TA' L-APPELLI KRIMINALI (INFERJURI), MALTA

The Attorney General submitted that the application of appeal was null because the appellant failedto include a summary of the facts.

The defence submitted both orally and in writing that onceappellant had filed a guilty plea, then it was not necessary that a summary of the facts should beincluded.

This Court held that the requirements of section 419 should be strictly adhered toand even when a guilty plea is filed an appellant is still bound to include a summary of the facts.Section 419 makes no exceptions and though the charges should prove to be a reliable guide to thebasic facts, the summary cannot be dispensed with. After all, what has really happened at the particular time when the crimes and/ or contraventions have been committed go beyond the limited phrasingof the charges.

Hence the Court accepted the plea of the attorney general that the appeal is null because the appellant has failed to abide by the requirements of the law. However, theCourt still analysed all the submissions submitted by the defence to see that justice was done in the most appropriate manner.