Letters | Wednesday, 09 December 2009

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Rose Parnis arrest not ‘illegal, but null’

We write on behalf of Ms Rose Parnis and make reference to the article which appears on page 5 of the MaltaToday Mid Week of today November 18 2009 entitled “Court Rules Parnis Arrest was illegal”.
To set the record straight and for clarity’s sake, we would like to bring the following facts to your attention:
First and foremost during the sitting of the November 12, 2009 in the case in the names ‘The Police v. Rose Parnis’ held before Magistrate Silvio Meli, the issue whether Rose Parnis’ arrest was illegal or otherwise was not raised and consequently the Magistrate’s court never ruled that her arrest was illegal.
As a matter of fact what happened during the said sitting is that when the case was called Rose Parnis appeared assisted by the undersigned lawyers who raised the preliminary plea that the service of notice calling her to appear in court was null since it was never served upon her.
After hearing the evidence with respect to this preliminary plea, Dr. Joe Mifsud on behalf of Rose Parnis raised the issue that the notification was also null owing to the fact that whilst it appeared from the records of the case that the summons had been issued on tJune 8, 2009, the document evidencing service of notice to Rose Parnis (referta) stated that Rose Parnis was notified on March 23, 2009.
On the basis, the Court to declare that the notification was null.
As regards the merits of the case, the Court declared that the action was time barred since the accusations brought in Court against Rose Parnis were of a contraventional nature and the time of three (3) months had elapsed.
However, the issue regarding whether the arrest was illegal or otherwise was not raised and hence not decided upon.
The case regarding the arrest of Rose Parnis and whether she resisted the arrest is still pending before the Court of Magistrates.

Dr Joe Mifsud,
Dr William Cuschieri

Editor’s note: Dr Mifsud and Dr Cuschieri are splitting hairs. Whether or not the issue was raised specifically in court, it remains a fact that magistrate Silvio Meli observed in his ruling that the arrest of Rose Parnis was ‘not according to law’.

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