Żabbar serial bail-breaker back in court: Malta’s revolving-door justice under fire

A 34-year-old man from Żabbar is back behind bars after allegedly breaching no fewer than four separate sets of bail conditions in less than 18 months, prompting fresh debate about whether Malta’s courts are too quick to grant bail to repeat offenders.

Police sources told Hot Malta that the latest arrest came after officers spotted the man—whose name is banned from publication to protect the identity of an alleged domestic-violence victim—inside a bar in Marsa that he had been expressly ordered to avoid. When confronted, he allegedly failed a roadside drug test and was found carrying a small amount of cocaine.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech yesterday refused to release him for a fifth time, remanding him in custody after prosecutors argued that “the public’s faith in the bail system is being eroded by serial breaches that endanger victims and mock court orders”.

The case has struck a nerve in a country where bail is increasingly seen as a revolving door. Court statistics show that 1,276 people were granted bail in Malta last year, up 38 % since 2019. While most comply, police confirm that 312 arrest warrants were issued in 2023 for bail breaches—an average of almost six every week.

“Enough is enough,” said Sliema mayor Graziella Attard Previ, who chairs the local councils’ safer-communities forum. “Residents want to see consequences, not headlines about the same faces arrested over and over.”

The debate is particularly raw in Żabbar, the accused’s hometown, where parish priest Fr. Anton D’Amato used Sunday’s sermon to lament “a culture of impunity that gnaws at the fabric of our tight-knit communities”. Several parishioners told Hot Malta they no longer felt comfortable attending evening Mass after recognising the man loitering near the church, one of the locations he had been ordered to stay away from.

Local shopkeepers are also frustrated. “He came in here asking for a €20 phone top-up, laughing that ‘the court can’t touch me’,” said one convenience-store owner on Żabbar’s main street. “Customers left. Who wants to shop alongside someone who treats bail like a joke?”

Under Maltese law, breach of bail carries a maximum €10,000 fine or 12 months in jail, but magistrates rarely impose the top sentence. Defence lawyers argue that overcrowded prisons and sluggish court timelines make prolonged pre-trial detention unjust. “We can’t jail everyone indefinitely,” said criminal lawyer Veronique Dalli. “But repeat breaches show we need smarter conditions—GPS tags, nightly curfews, mandatory rehab—rather than blanket detention.”

Justice Minister Jonathan Attard yesterday announced a review of the 2018 Bail Act, with a White Paper expected this autumn. Options on the table include electronic monitoring funded by EU recovery funds and a points-based system that escalates penalties for each breach. Victims’ groups, however, want faster action. “While bureaucrats consult, women are being intimidated,” said Marceline Naudi, president of the Women’s Rights Foundation. “We need immediate protection orders enforced within hours, not weeks.”

The opposition has jumped on the issue. PN spokesperson Joe Giglio branded the current regime “a taxpayer-funded merry-go-round” and pledged to table a private member’s bill introducing minimum custodial sentences for third-time breaches. Government sources counter that such populist tweaks could backfire, clogging courts and increasing Malta’s already record-high incarceration rate of 138 prisoners per 100,000 residents—well above the EU average.

Away from the political sparring, neighbours of the accused’s ex-partner simply want peace. “My kids ask why that man keeps walking past our balcony,” said one mother who lives on the same narrow alley. “Try explaining bail conditions to a six-year-old.”

For now, the man will spend at least the next month in Corradino as police compile a fresh dossier. Whether Malta’s courts finally slam the door on serial breaches—or simply add a fifth set of conditions—will be watched closely by a nation tired of seeing justice delayed become justice denied.