Policemen ‘investigated’ for assault... without talking to victims or witnesses
‘If the police claim to have interviewed my client or taken a statement about his allegations of police abuse, they are lying’ – defence lawyer Jose Herrera
Raphael Vassallo Two police officers accused of beating up a 19-year-old man and his girlfriend – and whose testimony in court was openly contradicted by an independent witness – have been spared any criminal charges, after an internal investigation in which the key witness was not actually interviewed.
In July, Police Inspector Pierre Grech and PC John Farrugia, both from the drug squad, pressed charges against Claudio Overend, 19 from Swieqi, claiming that he had physically assaulted them in an altercation over a parking place in Sliema.
However, matters took an unexpected twist when Tolga Temuge – Birdlife Malta’s CEO, who happened to be in the traffic jam when the incident took place – presented himself as a surprise witness for the defence, after reading a news report about the police’s testimony.
According to Temuge, it was the two police officers who had violently assaulted Overend, and not the other way around. Temuge testified that the young man was pushed to the floor, kicked and punched, and then held up against a wall. His girlfriend, who was in a panic, was also manhandled by the neck by one of the plainclothes policemen.
Overend’s defence lawyer Dr Jose Herrera demanded an investigation into the allegations of police aggression and abuse of power. However, two months later Inspector Mario Spiteri, of the police’s Internal Affairs Unit, testified that the case never made it as far as his unit, because the two police officers were ‘interviewed under caution’ by a Superintendent.
Pseudo-investigation? However, Dr Herrera has since cast serious doubts on the thoroughness of this internal ‘investigation’.
“My client was only interviewed by the police during the 48 hours in which he was kept under arrest after the incident; and even then, only in connection with charges brought against himself,” Herrera told MaltaToday.
Rebutting claims by the Justice Ministry this week that Overend had given the police a statement about the case, Herrera claims the only statements taken by the police concerned the investigation into Overend’s alleged assault on the police, and not the police officers’s alleged assault of the accused.
“If the police claim to have interviewed my client or taken a statement about his allegations of police abuse, they are lying,” Herrera said.
Furthermore, it transpires that key witness Tolga Temuge, whose testimony precipitated the investigation in the fist place, was not even questioned by the investigating officers for his version of events.
A spokesman for the Justice Ministry explained that Temuge could not be interviewed for procedural reasons: he is still a witness in the ongoing case against Overend. But the ministry spokesman was unable to explain how an internal investigation could conclude that there were no charges to be brought against the police officers concerned, when it hadn’t even spoken to the key witness concerned.
The Ministry’s explanation also sits uneasily with the procedures adopted in other cases: including that against former Chief Justice Noel Arrigo over allegations of bribery. The Arrigo trial, which is due to begin in November, was delayed for several years because the main witness, Anthony Grech Sant, could not testify against Arrigo while he was still a key witness in a separate case brought against former judge Patrick Vella.
If the law courts followed the same procedures applied by the police in the Overend case, the Arrigo case would not be heard at all, as the investigation would have been concluded without speaking to the key witness.
The police’s version In reply to questions by MaltaToday, the police’s Community and Media Relations Unit defended the internal investigation, but failed to explain why no subsequent investigation was carried out after Grech and Farrugia’s testimony was contradicted by a witness in court.
“Both Claudio Overend and his girlfriend, Serena Smith, were interviewed by Sliema police district Superintendent Nicholas Ciappara and district Inspector Anne Marie Micallef on 31 July 2009. Ms Smith released her statement at 10.00 hrs while Mr Overend released his statement at 13.15 hrs. In their statements, amongst other things, both Mr Overend and Ms Smith recounted their version of events and put forward their allegations against the two police officers in detail.
“On the basis of the allegations in these two statements, Police Inspector Pierre Grech and PC John Farrugia were interviewed later on the same day, under caution, by the same Superintendent Nicholas Ciappara and district Inspector Anne Marie Micallef. The version of events given by Inspector Grech and PC Farrugia was different from that given by Claudio Grech and Serena Smith.
“On the basis of these interviews, Claudio Overend released another statement on 1 August 2009 at 09.45 hrs. Both of Mr Overend’s statements were exhibited in the court proceedings against him.
“On seeing the relevant documents – from which it was evident that the Sliema District Police had exhaustively investigated the matter – and in view of the fact that Mr Overend had already been arraigned, charged in court of slightly injuring the two police officers and since no new evidence had been forthcoming, the Internal Affairs Unit deemed it inappropriate to investigate afresh what had already been established.”
It remains unclear how the police can claim that ‘no new evidence had been forthcoming’, when Tolga Temuge testified after the above statements were allegedly taken.
On this point, the CMRU statement only has this to say: “Mr Tolga Temuge appeared in court and gave evidence without signalling prior to the case that he was present at the time and place of the incident. This is part of usual procedure – normal day to day business in court.”
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