Court usher questioned on missing documents

A court usher has been questioned over the disappearance of court documents related to a drugs case, The Times has learnt. Police have questioned a number of officials in relation to the disappearance last year of the documentation, which incorporates a voluminous collection of transcripts, statements and other such documented evidence given in court. However, the probe has now centred on a court usher who is believed to have had direct access to the documents, police sources said. The case relates to accusations against 36-year-old Kevin Gatt from Birkirkara, 41-year-old Jeremy Ciantar and 68-year-old Francis Bonnett, both from Sliema, who are charged with trafficking almost eight kilograms of cannabis resin. The three were charged in October 2008; however, after the case had practically gone through the whole compilation of evidence process, the documents disappeared. In May, a court official testified that the documents had been stolen from the court house. The records had to be painstakingly reconstructed and the case continued. This is the second court-related arrest in as many weeks after the shock arrest and subsequent arraignment of former judge Ray Pace, who is accused of...