The First Hall Civil Court (Constitutional Jurisdiction) ordered the Attorney General to pay Oliver Grima the sum of €3,000 in moral damages, after deciding that the proceedings before the Court of Magistrates Court of Appeal took an unreasonable amount of time to be concluded.
The criminal proceedings against the applicant were instituted by the Police on the 29th September 2003 and a judgement was given by the Court of Magistrates (Malta) as a Court of Criminal Jurisdiction on the 28th August 2013. The applicant appealed from such decision, which appeal was decided on the 16th October 2018 – more than 15 years after the commencement of proceedings.
Oliver Grima filed for Constitutional redress against the Attorney General, claiming that his right to a fair hearing was breached due to an unreasonable amount of time which the proceedings took.
Judge Anna Felice decided in favour of Grima, emphasizing that criminal proceedings should not take so long, even because of the moral damage that they cause to a person who is undergoing criminal proceedings.
Dr Joseph Giglio and Dr Sarah Mifsud appeared for Oliver Grima.
