Policeman acquitted of racist attack

A court today acquitted a policeman who had been accused of a racist physical attack on a man from Ivory Coast in Paceville last July.

Aaron Bugeja, 27 was charged with slightly injuring Konote Kaba and committing a crime which he was duty bound to prevent.

Eyewitnesses had claimed that two migrants had been brutally beaten up by police officers.

An investigation, however, led to Mr Kaba being convicted of assaulting three police officers after he pleaded guilty.

Taking the witness stand, a night club bouncer, John Rivas, said that when Mr Kaba was about to enter the club, he asked him for identification and Mr Kaba refused to give him his identity card. Mr Kaba became aggressive and started shouting obscenities, claiming he was not being allowed in because of his colour.

Two policemen who happened to be nearby took Mr Kaba across the road, and he continued saying offensive things about Malta.

He said that a crowd gathered around Mr Kaba and when the police officers tried to handcuff him while he lay on the floor, the crowd started kicking him, the bouncer said.

A man who had been eating pizza in the road and was drawn to the commotion, Konrad Bonnici, gave a very similar version of events to that of the night club bouncer.

The court said that after taking into consideration the conflicting testimonies of the police officers involved and that of the witnesses, it could not, beyond reasonable doubt, find Mr Bugeja guilty.

It noted that Mr Kaba’s injuries had not been inflicted by the police officers but actually, the police were trying to protect Mr Kaba from the crowd that had gathered around him. The court also said that it seemed from the evidence presented before it that Mr Kaba had been the victim of passers by who felt annoyed by Mr Kaba who was hurling insults at the bouncers and at the Maltese in general.