Evidence in case over trespassing at earth station

A Bondi+ journalist was taken to court for trespassing at the Maghtab Earth Station after police saw his name on the footage credits, a police inspector told a court yesterday.

Police Inspector Silvio Valletta said he sent for Jeremy Camilleri after seeing his credit as cameraman on a recording of the programme aired on April 9.

Camilleri confirmed he was a journalist for Bondi+ and Where's Everybody Limited but chose not to answer any other questions, the inspector said.

He testified before Magistrate Abigail Lofaro who yesterday started hearing evidence in the case against Camilleri, 27, of Sta Lucija, who is pleading not guilty to trespassing at the earth station on and before April 9 and causing less than Lm50 damage.

Inspector Valletta said that watchman Carmel Xuereb reported a hole in the fence near Gate 5 on March 11 and the closed circuit camera overlooking Gate 5 was obstructed by an antenna.

Xuereb told the court he checked all the monitors when he started his work shift at 5.30 p.m. on March 11 and inspected the fence for holes or irregularities. Everything was fine.

At about 10.17 p.m. that same night, the alarm started ringing. He looked at one of the monitors and saw a cat run. He then went to inspect the fence and again, everything seemed to be normal.

But at 1.17 a.m. the alarm went off a second time. The monitors showed nothing strange. He went to check the fence and when he arrived near Gate 5 he saw a hole at the bottom right side of the door in the fence.

The hole was large enough for a person to pass through.

"I froze. I couldn't believe it. It took me about a minute to get over the shock. I went to tell a colleague what had happened and phoned my superior in Naxxar. When the chief security guard arrived later on he told me to call the police. I did so and they came soon after," he said.

Under cross-examination, Xuereb said he did not see any trespasser that night. He also said that it usually took him about 20 minutes to inspect the fence and insisted that nothing had escaped his attention when he inspected the fence after the first alarm.

Earlier, Maltacom chairman Maurice Zarb Adami said he had received an e-mail from Lou Bondì requesting him to participate in a programme on security and he had turned down the invitation.

He had eventually watched the Bondi+ programme aired on April 9 and saw somebody trespassing into the earth station.

He said that although he knew that he fence had been damaged, he was not in a position to say when the damage was caused and by whom.

The earth station general manager, Daniel Gauci, said that the estimate of the damage caused to the fence was Lm22.68.

Raymond Libreri, the assistant manager at the PBS archives section, exhibited the video recording of the Bondi+ programme aired on April 9.

The case continues.

Police Inspector Silvio Valletta is prosecuting.

Dr Emmanuel Mallia and Dr Anthony Cremona are appearing for Camilleri.