An investigation into allegations of police brutality on a suspect in custody at the Police Headquarters are at “a very advanced stage”, 14 months after the investigation was ordered by Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani Grima.
In April 2007, Arshad Nawaz, 30 from Pakistan, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for defiling a 13-year-old boy in the vicinity of Sliema’s Independence Gardens. Nawaz was accused of enticing the boy to his apartment, where he performed lewd acts amounting to molestation.
Nawaz claimed in court to have been assaulted by three policemen while in custody. According to his testimony, he was handcuffed and beaten by three police officers. A fourth police officer is alleged to have also beat Nawaz with a truncheon.
In handing down judgment, Magistrate Padovani Grima ruled that: “In view of the allegations of physical abuse by members of the Police, the court orders the Police Commissioner to investigate this case thoroughly and take criminal proceedings as necessary.”
The police’s community and media relations unit yesterday confirmed that the investigation is now drawing to a close. “Regarding the allegations of physical abuse in connection with the Arshad Nawaz case, investigations were taken in hand as directed by presiding Magistrate Dr J. Padovani Grima,” a CMRU spoekesman said. “Statements of all police officers involved in the arrest were taken, however these have all denied the allegations levelled against them.”
Apart from the Nawaz case, enquiries are currently under way into two separate cases of alleged police violence or undue force.
Magistrate Padovani Grima is herself conducting an enquiry into the fatal shooting of Bastjan Borg, 58 from Qormi, in March 2007. Borg was shot five times by police officers after causing a disturbance in a public place and threatening passers-by, and later the police officers involved in the incident, with a pen-knife.
Borg is understood to have been a former patient at Mount Carmel Mental Hospital. There are no indications of when this enquiry will be concluded.
Meanwhile the mysterious death of Nicholas Azzopardi, 38 from Floriana, is also the subject of two separate inquiries: an inquest led by Magistrate Anthony Vella, and a separate enquiry conducted at the request of Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici by retired Judge Albert Manche.
Azzopard died at Mater Dei Hospital on April 22 of this year, two hours after claiming on film to have been severely beaten while in police custody 13 days earlier. The police version of events holds that the victim sustained the injuries after falling from a bastion in an attempt to escape from the Floriana depot.