Crime suspects could soon get electronic tags

The government is studying the possibility of introducing electronic tagging to make it easier to grant bail to suspects of serious crimes, The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt.

A source close to the government said that this was one of the reforms in reformative justice the government was considering favourably in its efforts to continue improving the justice system and bringing it in line with other EU countries. 

Electronic tagging is one of the measures used in several European countries allowing suspects to be released from preventive custody pending their trial. This involves an electronic tag being fitted to a person’s ankle.

The issue was raised recently by Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera, who in one of her first judgments, argued that it was time for the introduction of electronic monitoring of persons on bail.

Madam Justice Scerri Herrera was deciding on a request for bail made by lawyers acting for Mustafa Abu Seadah, who stands accused of raping a Maltese woman whom he had lured to his house.

The judge observed that the only conditions the court could impose that would have some effect on the man were curfews, signing a bail book, imposing a personal guarantee...