Raphael Vassallo The arrest of Rose Parnis last October – highlighted by this newspaper on account of allegations of disproportionate force by the police – has been declared “vitiated” and “not according to law”, in a preliminary ruling delivered by magistrate Silvio Meli last Thursday.
Rose Parnis, 44, together with her 16-year-old son, was arrested in her ironmongery’s shop on Wednesday 8 October by a posse St Julian’s police officers, in an incident that was caught in its entirety on the shop’s CCTV system.
Seven police officers are seen in the footage entering the establishment to arrest Parnis on charges of failing to appear for a court sitting after due notification.
But Parnis, through her lawyer William Cuschieri, has always insisted she never received (still less signed) any summons.
In a ruling delivered on 12 November – but which has not yet been transcribed – Magistrate Meli noted a discrepancy between the date when the police claimed to have to delivered the written summons to Parnis (23 March), and the stamp on the actual warrant (8 June).
The magistrate observed in his ruling that “there was an illogicality” in the process leading to Parnis’s arrest. Consequently, the court ruled that the arrest procedure was “vitiated” and was “not according to law”.
The police officers involved in this illegal arrest included Sgt Robert Said Mamo and PC Sarah Kathleen Zerafa, who arrived at Parnis’s shop in San Gwann at 4pm. They were later joined by inspectors Bernard Spiteri and Brian Mifsud, and constables Emmanuel Agius and Joseph Mifsud. Another police officer waited outside the establishment.
When confronted by the police, Parnis’s daughter informed them that she had just undergone hospitalisation for a heart condition.
Lawyer Dr William Cuschieri also called the St Julian’s precinct Superintendent Sharon Tanti to assure her that no summons was ever received, but that Parnis would appear next day in court. Tanti however insisted on carrying out the arrest regardless.
At this point, Parnis moved to the back of the shop, where she was followed by the police. Her son Clive is seen in the footage pleading with the police, whose response was to grab him in a headlock and drag him away. Dr Joseph Saliba from the Mosta clinic afterwards confirmed that Clive had suffered bruises to his wrists, lower back and neck.
Back at the shop, Rose found herself surrounded and manhandled by police officers. She fainted, and her daughter called for an ambulance. After laying on the floor for some time, she regained her senses, only to be promptly handcuffed and taken away.
The ambulance arrived at the Police HQ, but was turned away. Later, the ambulance came back to take Parnis to Mater Dei. There, six policemen were assigned to guard Parnis while she was in hospital. She was released on Friday.
After her interrogation, Parnis was arraigned in court with urgency – accused of attacking six police officers. Magistrate Silvio Meli granted Parnis bail upon the request of defence lawyers William Cuschieri and Joe Mifsud, on a personal guarantee of €3,000 and on condition that she does not commit another crime, regardless of the opposition of prosecuting officer Bernard Spiteri – the same inspector involved in the attack.
After MaltaToday publicised both the details of the arrest procedure – including the apparent lack of prior notification, now confirmed by the magistrates’ court – as well as stills from the CCTV footage, Superintendent Sharon Tanti filed a libel case against newspaper’s Sunday editor Matthew Vella and editor-in-chief, Saviour Balzan.
The case is ongoing.
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