Giraldi Home Abuses in Spot-Light Again [18 January, 2008]

Giraldi Home Abuses in Spot-Light Again

Over the past two years, apparently on the personal instructions of Chief Minister Peter Caruana, the Government has squandered tens of thousands of pounds of Gibraltar taxpayers' money in its attempts to cover up allegations of abuses at the Dr.Giraldi Home and mismanagement within the Social Services Agency while these were part of the Ministerial portfolio of Yvette del Agua. And for almost 12 months of that time, the TGWU - then under the control of recently appointed Government Minister Louis Montiel - ploughed more than £10,000 into legal fees to obtain an Industrial Tribunal hearing of a claim by Joanna Hernandez for wrongful dismissal.

SEXUAL ABUSE

Hernandez, who had been appointed to run the Giraldi Home in January 2005, had forwarded to her superiors at the agency a total of 12 written complaints by members of her staff. When the agency allegedly attempted to silence her, Hernandez took matters to the trade union and also detailed the allegations - including a claim involving sexual abuse - to lawyer Daniel Feetham at the time a partner in Hassans, but more recently Gibraltar's new (and first) Minister of Justice. Six months later Hernandez was sacked... and few of the concerns she and staff members had raised had been acted on.

Hernandez and her representative opposition leader Joe Bossano will appear before Tribunal chairman Isaac Massias at a brief, formal hearing on Tuesday. However the main hearing - at which more than 30 witnesses are expected to be called - will not take place until April. It was to prevent their evidence being aired in public that the Government's prolonged campaign of legal attrition was set in motion, Hernandez and her advisers believe. This was handled initially by a team from the Attorney General's office; however as the hearing progressed - an attempt to deny Hernandez the right to be heard by the Tribunal was rejected by its chairman, then taken to the Supreme Court and finally to the Appeal Court (all of whom ruled in her favour) - the matter was handed to a private law firm...again boosting the cost to the taxpayer to an estimated sum of over £50,000.

DAMAGING ALLEGATIONS NOT AIRED

Further legal moves prior to last year's general election appeared to have ensured that damaging allegations - reflecting on the Government and particularly del Agua - would not be aired before the polls. Nevertheless, arguments about Hernandez's right to subpoena witnesses who were still employed by Government, which were heard by Massias at the end of last year gave a foretaste of the unpleasant can of worms which will be exposed in allegations in April. However, in a ruling which raised legal eyebrows, Massias decided that Hernandez could not subpoena del Agua - something which Bossano may call for again either on Tuesday or at the full April hearing.

The Hernandez case also underlines shortcomings in local legislation which refuses legal aid to applicants in tribunal hearings.

"If we had lost the court appeals - in which Governments were ordered to pay costs - l would have had to sell my house," Hernandez told Vox this week.

The funds available from the Trade Unions to help legal actions of this sort are limited - in Hernandez's case she was told by TGWU district officer Charles Sisarello that funds had run out after being allocated to help Spanish workers in the Cammel Laird dispute.

However, it is the fear of facing massive personal legal costs that probably deters many from fighting at tribunal level.

http://www.vox.gi/Local/Giraldi_Home_Abuses_Again18012008.html