Email campaign prejudices right to fair trial – defence
Karl Stagno-Navarra
An email demanding “exemplary justice”, in the case of a young driver charged with the manslaughter of a well known cyclist last week, is impinging on the defendant’s right to a fair trial, his defence team has warned.
Defence lawyer Michael Scriha told MaltaToday that his client – Anthony Taliana, 21 of Hamrun, who is currently being held at Corradino prison – is being vilified nationwide by a series of emails, denigrating the character of the accused and denying him the right to be tried fairly.
“The situation is quite serious as some people clearly want to influence the judicial system by inciting hatred towards my client,” Michael Sciriha said, adding that the case is already complicated especially when one considers the insurance implications.
The email takes the form of a Power Point presentation that includes photographs lifted from Anthony Taliana’s HI5 social network page – all of which have since been removed from the website – together with quotes from the local media describing the incident and the investigations that led to his arrest following the death of cyclist Clifford Micallef last week.
While the email talks about the accused reckless driving charge earlier this year, it asks who is to shoulder the responsibility for having let Taliana back on the road with the consequence of causing the violent death of an innocent cyclist.
The photographs circulating on emails show Anthony Taliana posing with a bottle of whiskey, while another shows him in what could be described as a re-enacted pose of Al Pacino’s legendary mob movie ‘Scarface’ with a quantity of what looks like cocaine (but is more likely washing powder) in the foreground while he poses on an armchair.
Other pictures show him at the wheel of his car, while others show his father’s garage and two fast cars parked inside. Yet another picture shows Taliana posing on a toilet with his pants down.
While the email did the rounds this week, Sliema residents called this paper to say that they recognised the accused as the driver who every few days would wake up the Dingli Street neighbourhood by repeatedly hooting his horn, playing loud music and screeching his tyres at 5am.
“I recognised the cars he uses from the photographs,” one resident said, while another stressed that once he is in prison, “we can finally rest and not have to wake up to such irresponsible behaviour.”
The email however has rekindled the debate on the use of social networks like HI5, Facebook and MySpace where many youths are unaware of the implications that follow the postings of possibly incriminating photographs.
Meanwhile, condolences continue to pour in for Clifford Micallef: the much-respected cyclist whose life was cut short last week while preparing for the forthcoming Lifecycle Challenge.
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