The inquiry into the death of Nicholas Azzopardi concluded that if all the evidence submitted by the police were discarded, all the other evidence - together with the documents exhibited and the facts - corroborates the police's version of the incident.
"At no point do the allegations made by Azzopardi feature," according to the procès-verbal of inquiring Magistrate Anthony Vella.
The Times yesterday pored through pages upon pages of testimony at the Attorney General's office, as well as boxes of evidence, photos of CCTV footage, medical and forensic reports, mobile phone reports... the inquiry was very exhaustive in its bid to leave no stone unturned into Mr Azzopardi's allegations.
Before he died on April 22, Mr Azzopardi alleged that he had been brutally beaten by police while in custody and thrown over the bastions.
When he regained consciousness on April 18, Mr Azzopardi told his family and friends that he had been taunted and beaten in the lock-up by two policemen. He admitted that he retaliated against one of the interrogators, crushing him against the lock-up's metal door.
In retaliation, he claimed, an officer, possibly trained in martial arts, flung a side kick, breaking four ribs and puncturing his lung. After that, the deceased told the family he lost consciousness and only came to in hospital.
The police have always denied these allegations and the inquiring magistrate concluded he was not beaten at any time while he was in custody and that he actually jumped.
The following is a chronological account put together from Magistrate Vella's procès-verbal, and testimonies which conclude that it was impossible that the 38-year-old man was beaten:
April 8, 2.30 p.m. Vice Squad Inspector Graziella Muscat and Appoġġ social worker Melissa Muscat turn up unannounced outside Mr Azzopardi's residence in Fgura.
In her testimony the social worker recounts how Appoġġ had received allegations made by both the father (Mr Azzopardi) and the mother (Claudette) regarding a daughter, aged seven, and a three-year-old son.
Mr Azzopardi accused the mother of physical abuse and negligence while the mother alleged that Mr Azzopardi had touched his daughter's private parts.
Ms Muscat said the seven-year-old daughter's reports of sexual abuse were consistent. The mother, who was informed of this, filed a report with the police. On April 8, both the inspector and the social worker showed up at the Fgura residence to take Mr Azzopardi and the girl to the police headquarters, Floriana, for questioning.
While they waited for the girl to return from school, Insp. Muscat spotted Mr Azzopardi going down to the garage and opening the car's luggage boot with something in hand. She suspected it was a computer. It was later established that it was the computer tower (which contains the data storage unit).
Insp. Muscat said that when Mrs Azzopardi showed up, after picking up the girl from school, panic ensued because of the police presence. The daughter chose to be accompanied to the police station by her dad. The social worker got in the back of the car with the girl and Mr Azzopardi drove off.
3.07 p.m. CCTV footage shows Mr Azzopardi, wearing a blue Kappa tracksuit, entering the police headquarters in Floriana, holding his daughter's hand, in the presence of the social worker and police inspector.
In the procès-verbal, the Magistrate said this evidence contradicts Mr Azzopardi's account that the daughter had arrived at the headquarters with his mother-in-law.
6.15 p.m. Mr Azzopardi joins policemen to search his Fgura residence.
7.30 p.m. Mr Azzopardi returns to the police headquarters.
9 p.m. Mr Azzopardi is put in lock-up 113. Exhaustive reports into CCTV footage and the type and make of the door, among other evidence, show he was not beaten while in the cell.
9.50 p.m. Mr Azzopardi complains of chest pains.
9.56 p.m. Mr Azzopardi is seen emerging handcuffed from the police headquarters to be taken to Mater Dei Hospital. He was examined and later discharged himself.
April 9, 3.15 a.m. Mr Azzopardi is back in the lock-up at the police headquarters.
3.50 a.m. Mr Azzopardi again complains of chest pains and is once again escorted to hospital. This time an X-ray of his chest is taken. The medics who saw him testify that at no point did Mr Azzopardi say he was beaten. There was also no indication that he was beaten or a note in the medical history file that the medics saw any lesions. He again discharges himself.
9 a.m. Mr Azzopardi is put in another cell - lock-up 103, especially built for those who suffer from claustrophobia.
11.30 a.m. Mr Azzopardi is taken out of his cell for questioning by Insp. Muscat. In her testimony, she said that at no point was Mr Azzopardi aggressive or angry. He kept blaming his wife. Mr Azzopardi also described his daughter as "very honest" and mature beyond her years. He felt somebody was forcing his daughter to make the allegations against him.
Insp. Muscat said that throughout the interrogation he kept beating around the bush, avoiding the questions. At times he was defensive. In the six-page statement, which the accused signed and which The Times saw, Mr Azzopardi denied all the charges.
At one point during the interrogation, which lasted nearly five hours, Mr Azzopardi called his lawyer. He was also asked if he wanted anything to eat, but he declined and only took coffee.
4 p.m. Mr Azzopardi meets Court Marshall Eugenio Mallia, the last independent witness (i.e. not police), who informed him of the application his wife had filed against him.
4.10 p.m. The meeting with the Court Marshall is over and Mr Azzopardi waits at the headquarters.
An expert established that during the total 27 hours that Mr Azzopardi was in custody he spent 44 per cent of his time at Mater Dei Hospital; 22 per cent of his time giving his statement; 12 per cent of the time in the lock-up; 11 per cent of the time with the vice squad and three per cent of his time during the search at his Fgura residence, among others.
5.53 p.m. CCTV footage shows Mr Azzopardi emerging in the police yard escorted by PS Adrian Lia and PC Ruben Zammit, to search his car and later take his fingerprints. The procès-verbal established that the CCTV footage had a discrepancy of one hour, because it had not yet been moved one hour ahead to reflect summertime.
In the yard, PS Lia realises that Mrs Azzopardi and her mother are in the waiting room at the entrance to the depot and he feels Mr Azzopardi should not encounter them, so he instructs PC Zammit and Mr Azzopardi to remain in the yard.
5.56 p.m. PC Zammit and Mr Azzopardi move towards the back of the yard. The Times saw photos of the CCTV footage that show Mr Azzopardi walking freely - he is not handcuffed - and does not appear injured or in pain. At one point he is also seen peering over the four-foot wall.
In the meantime, PS Lia goes inside to ask Insp. Muscat to escort Mrs Azzopardi and her mother to the office. Insp. Muscat instructs him to return to Mr Azzopardi outside.
5.58 p.m. CCTV footage shows a car approaching PC Zammit and Mr Azzopardi. It parks and PC 990 emerges from the car and enters the depot.
The procès-verbal established from the testimony that PS Lia returns to join the two. As he approaches to turn the corner he calls "Rueben" and then spots Mr Azzopardi jumping onto the wall. PC Zammit dashes to try and stop him.
PC Zammit, who weighs 65 kilograms, holds Mr Azzopardi, who is 185 centimetres tall and weighs 120 kilograms, by his armpits. However, Mr Azzopardi struggles to escape. He even pushes with his legs against the wall to loosen the policeman's grip. He finally manages to get one arm free.
All this lasted five seconds. Before letting go, Mr Azzopardi utters the words, "why sir".
Expert evidence revealed that Mr Azzopardi started his flight downwards hanging vertically, with his head up. His flight continued vertically with a horizontal inclination to the left.
Evidence makes it "obvious" that Mr Azzopardi was not dead when he went over and neither was he unconscious.
5.59 p.m. PC 990 is seen re-emerging from the office looking alarmed after hearing shouting. Mr Azzopardi lies crouched below after falling three storeys into the yard of Lorenzo Manchè School.
PS Lia and PC Emanuel Zerafa dash to the spot where Mr Azzopardi landed. In his testimony PS Lia said that Mr Azzopardi spoke to them and said, "Ajma sir, ajma sir, I'm finding it hard to breathe".
PS Lia tries to comfort him and calm him down telling him help is on the way. He tells him not to move, but Mr Azzopardi begins to complain of cramps. Another policeman tries to hold his feet to keep him from moving and further injuring himself. Then Mr Azzopardi said: "Ajma sir, ajma sir, my wife is beating me".
6.22 p.m. CCTV footage shows an ambulance driving on the spot. The procès-verbal said that Mr Azzopardi also spoke to ambulance personnel. He never made any allegations. He was admitted in a "Glasgow coma, scale 15/15" and could communicate.
Later in the evening. In her testimony Insp. Louise Calleja said that she called Mr Azzopardi's brother Reno to ask him to come to the depot urgently. She denied - and was 100 per cent certain - ever telling Reno that his brother had jumped from a window.
Meanwhile, in his testimony Reno recounted how Insp. Calleja told him: "Nicholas hurt one of our policemen, ran away and jumped from a window".
In hospital. When Mr Azzopardi was admitted, Dr Thomas Armantis examined him and certified that he was critical and was transferred to the Intensive Therapy Unit.
All the examinations of Mr Azzopardi's injuries, fractures and lesions are on the left hand side of his body and are consistent with a fall from some height. No injuries looked suspicious or were compatible with a beating.
Mr Azzopardi was examined regularly by the orthopaedic and surgical teams and all precautions were taken so no thrombosis would form.
The only shortcoming Magistrate Vella found was that an intercostal drain was inserted into Mr Azzopardi incorrectly and caused a perforation in the lung parenchyma.
"However, fortunately, this mistake did not contribute in any way to the death of Azzopardi," the procès-verbal concluded.
His condition remained stable and he gradually got better.
April 18. Mr Azzopardi regains consciousness and alleges that he is beaten by the police while in custody.
April 22. Mr Azzopardi is transferred from ITU to the Orthopaedic Ward. The Magistrate turns up at the hospital to question him for 90 minutes in the presence of a court expert, and Mr Azzopardi reaffirms the allegations.
He said that when he was taken to the lock-up, two officials, wearing blue pullovers, began to insult him and then started beating him. Mr Azzopardi said he would recognise one of them, but the other beat him from behind.
He retaliated and pushed one of them against the cell door - he was certain he had badly injured this policeman. He was then kicked by a martial arts expert and he lost consciousness. He remembers nothing else, except at one point he recalls seeing the sea.
Mr Azzopardi asked the court to investigate whether an officer on duty the day of his interrogation was on sick leave. The court found nothing of the sort.
Mr Azzopardi was also asked if he knew how he ended up in the schoolyard. He first said police threw him over, but when the Magistrate asked how he could possibly know this, if he was unconscious, Mr Azzopardi said it could be that his brother or father had told him an eyewitness had seen him being thrown over.
"This allegation was not corroborated by them," the procès-verbal said.
Mr Azzopardi could neither remember why he had been interrogated by Insp. Muscat. However, he then remembered who the inspector was and that he was being investigated over a family issue he had with his wife. He could not remember that he was being interrogated for sexually abusing his daughter, the procès-verbal said.
April 22, 10.40 p.m. Mr Azzopardi collapses and develops cardiac arrest. Attempts to resuscitate him fail.
11.15 p.m. Mr Azzopardi is pronounced dead. The autopsy by Dr Ali Safraz and Prof. Marie Therese Camilleri Podestà establish he died from "saddle pulmonary embolus" following deep vein thrombosis.