Policemen deny beating at station

Three policemen yesterday denied beating up a 22-year-old man inside the St Julians station in an allegedly unprovoked attack where the only witnesses were other officers.

In yesterday's sitting, Magistrate Silvio Meli heard police witnesses recount a very different version of events to that described by Trevor Ciangura who claimed he was pushed to the ground and kicked on March 30, last year.

Constables Oliver Micallef, 23, of Għarb and Robert Mario Spiteri, 28, of Attard are pleading not guilty to slightly injuring Mr Ciangura and failing to carry out their duties as public officers, while 48-year-old Sergeant Joseph Pace of Swieqi denies being an accomplice.

All three are also charged with committing a crime they were duty bound to prevent.

Taking the witness stand, Mr Ciangura said he had arranged to go to Ryan's Pub in St Julians with his 14-year-old family friend, Isaac Zammit Cordina.

When they got there, Isaac went to McDonalds to meet his girlfriend while he went to have a drink inside the pub. At one point two police officers walked into the pub with Isaac, he said.

When he went to find out what had happened, Isaac told him that he had been punched in the face and was looking for the perpetrator. So he accompanied him outside and they looked around and spotted him in a crowd near the station.

Together with the two officers, Mr Ciangura took off running after the alleged perpetrator, however, the group they were approaching all ran in different directions.

He spotted one or two of the group who ran off up the steps by Tony's Bar and he got into his car and drove around the block, in an attempt to catch them at the other end.

The two people began throwing bottles at him and he drove off, only to spot one of them a little later down by the spot where the chase began. He jumped out of his car, grabbed the person by the shoulders and marched him to the police station.

PC Micallef and PC Spiteri, who were standing on the parapet, saw him and ran up to him. PC Micallef grabbed him by the neck and the other by the arm, Mr Ciangura testified.

As they took him into the station, another officer said: "Take him to the cell and the usual". Near the internal yard PC Micallef turned around to see if anyone was looking and then elbowed him causing him to fall to the ground. At that point he slid his mobile phone into his underwear to prevent them from taking it and they put him in a cell, Mr Ciangura said.

Then he felt two officers punch and kick him to the point of almost losing consciousness before they put him in a cell.

He added that he shouted for them to release him and phoned his brother who was a police officer, who arrived 10 minutes later. He was released shortly afterwards.

Mr Ciangura said that he used to work as a sprayer and mechanic but following this incident he was out of work for three months.

Taking the witness stand, Sergeant Maria Scicluna said that on the night in question a person came in and claimed that he had been hit in the face. A report was made.

About an hour-and-a-half later she heard tyres screeching and saw Mr Ciangura drive around the roundabout and turn 180 degrees before coming to a stop at the other side of the road.

Officers went to investigate and before they had a chance to get to him, he had jumped out of his car and attacked a young man in the street. When the officers tried to intervene, they were met with aggressive behaviour from Mr Ciangura who swore at them and called them all sorts of names, she said.

They took him into the station where he continued to be aggressive and at one point he pushed PC Micallef. Reacting in self-defence, PC Micallef pushed him back.

Mr Ciangura tripped over a bench behind him and fell over but immediately got up. She added that he was very violent in the cell and officers had to place a padlock on the cell door because of the force he was using to try and open it.

When his brother arrived at the station, she said she spoke to Mr Ciangura in front of him and Mr Ciangura apologised for his actions.

On hearing this in court, Mr Ciangura let out a sigh of disbelief.

Other police witnesses gave similar accounts to that of PS Scicluna.

Lawyer Gianella Caruana Curran and Robert Abela are appearing for the men, while Arthur Azzopardi and Emanuel Mallia appeared for Mr Ciangura.

Magistrate Silvio Meli is expected to deliver judgment today.

Police Inspector Anthony Cassar prosecuted.