Liam Debono, the underage motorist who ran over and maimed a police officer conducting a routine traffic stop has been released on bail by the Criminal Court.
Debono is accused of the attempted murder of PC Simon Schembri and 46 other charges, after dragging the policeman for a distance under his car. Schembri had stopped him over a seatbelt infraction, and ended up losing an arm in the incident, narrowly escaping with his life.
The youth had been in police custody since his arraignment in May.
There were heated exchanges in judge Antonio Mizzi's court between assistant Attorney General Philip Galea Farrugia and defence lawyer Franco Debono as both sides made submissions on bail.
Mizzi presiding the Criminal Court, was hearing a fresh application for bail following the refusal by the court of Magistrates to release the youth from arrest.
The lawyer submitted that where the nuclear family has failed, as it clearly had in Debono's case, society had to step in. The youth was an ideal candidate for reform, said the lawyer.
Debono, 17, was granted bail against a deposit of €10,000 and a personal guarantee of €40,000. He was also ordered to sign a bail book weekly and observe a curfew.
In his decree, judge Mizzi ruled that the accused is a minor and requires support. "It would be of no benefit were the applicant to continue to be detained at the Corradino Correctional Facility and therefore this court is of the opinion that today the time has come for him to be reinserted into the social fabric of our society."
from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2QgJJoL
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