Karl Stagno-Navarra The Office of the Attorney General said it was “not in a position” to confirm or deny the status of investigations into the alleged beating of a young man inside the St Julian’s police station, last March.
The AG said it could neither confirm nor deny “having considered any charges” to be brought against the police officers implicated in the case of Trevor Ciangura, 21 from Rabat, who claims he sustained serious injuries at the hands of police officers and whose case is supposed to be investigated internally by the police board.
The questions follow a statement issued from the Police headquarters that “investigations from the Internal Investigations Unit have been concluded and the matter has been referred to the Office of the Attorney General for considerations.”
The AG said: “I am not in a position to confirm or deny that the case to which you refer has been referred by the Police to my office for consideration since the matter would be covered by the client/lawyer relationship and therefore I would not be at liberty to disclose the information you seek.”
Complicating the Ciangura affair further is a new report, which implicates one of the police officers in an alleged attempt to provoke Trevor Ciangura’s brother into a violent reaction.
Police Sergeant 1492 Joseph Pace, known as ‘Il-Badott’ – who Ciangura says had allegedly stood in the doorway of the police station to prevent anybody from entering, while his subordinates kicked and punched the victim in the station yard – was reported to the police for attempting to instigate a fight.
The incident happened last Sunday afternoon during the feast of St Julian’s, when the sergeant – who was off-duty and not in uniform, and celebrating during the band march – allegedly used his mobile phone to film and photograph Trevor Ciangura’s brother, while repeatedly hitting him with his elbow to provoke him to retaliate.
A report filed with Inspector Angelo Gafà, who was the duty officer at the Police HQ in Floriana, explains that Pace actually followed Ciangura’s brother into the station in St Julian’s, who wanted to report him for harassment.
Ciangura told Gafà that Pace was laughing and giggling when the sergeant-major on duty at the police station, said he could not accept the report since no police inspector was present.
Investigations stalled
Meanwhile, the police Internal Investigations Unit still faces unanswered questions regarding other cases of excessive use of force uncovered by this paper.
Two weeks after the initiation of an internal investigation over the shocking story of an 18 year-old woman, who was manhandled and arrested for having kept a Chihuahua-sized dog while walking on St Georges Bay, the same unit has to date not even sent for the alleged victim to hear what she has to say.
The woman says she was manhandled, verbally abused and slammed into a cell at the St Julian’s police station.
Instead, the police retaliated by issuing charges against her on the same day this paper revealed her story. The woman now has to appear before a court and face charges for having illegally kept a dog on a beach and for having disobeyed police orders.
In another case, the Magistrates’ Court is still awaiting the Police Commissioner to present a detailed report about the investigations supposedly being carried out by the Internal Investigations Unit, about another cases of excessive use of force, namely where a young man and woman were assaulted by two plain-clothes police officers over a parking place.
Police Inspector Pierre Grech and PC John Farrugia, both from the drug squad, had their version of facts quashed before a court when a surprise witness came forward and testified under oath that he saw the two officers push 19-year-old Claudio Overend to the ground and beat him up.
The two officers were in an unmarked car that drove right behind another car that was maneuvering to park.
Inspector Grech allegedly got out of the car, walked up to the other car and ordered the driver (Overend’s girlfriend) to drive on as he was behind her and she had lost her space.
Her boyfriend –who ended up as the accused in proceedings initiated against him by the same officers – was standing on the pavement trying to direct his girlfriend to park and without knowing the two were policemen, asked why they were shouting at his girlfriend.
According to witness Tolga Temuge, the young man was pushed to the floor, kicked and punched, and then put against a wall. His girlfriend, who was in a panic, was also manhandled by the neck by the second man.
Both the Inspector and the Constable who had a lawyer present in court, were also faced by statements made by Claudio Overend and his girlfriend who alleged that while they were taken to the St Julian’s police station, a police officer – this time in uniform – had to jump across the station desk and stop both the Inspector and his constable from manhandling the girl.
According to the statements, one officer grabbed the girl by the neck and slammed her to a wall, while Inspector Grech intervened and challenged who was stopping him: “Why are you stopping me? I am your Inspector!”
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