Government officials have refused to clarify the preliminary findings of an inquiry into the death of an escaped detainee last April, saying no further comments will be made until the inquiry is concluded.
The inquiry, headed by former defence adviser Martin Scicluna, found there were grounds for disciplinary action to be taken against a number of detention officers.
It also found that responsibility for the incorrect procedures observed fell on the Commander of Detention Services, Lt Col Brian Gatt, although the implications of this are unclear.
The Justice and Home Affairs Ministry did not respond to questions about whether or not it still had confidence in Lt Col Gatt following the inquiry’s findings.
It noted that the inquiry had not found Lt Col Gatt to be personally responsible for causing the incident and that “at no point did the board recommended taking disciplinary steps” against him.
When pressed on the issue, a ministry spokesman said: “We will not comment further.”
The board said it could not fully conclude its investigations until it had access to the autopsy result of the deceased. The result of the post mortem examination will be released when the magisterial inquiry, being conducted by Antonio Micallef Trigona, is concluded. According to sources, the inquiry is being held up by forensic analysis abroad.
On April 16, six detainees at Safi Detention Centre escaped when officers were changing shifts. Two of the escapees were captured within a few hours. The other four remain at large.
One of the two, 29-year old Nigerian Infeanyi Nwokoye, died later that night. His asylum application had been rejected and he was being detained, awaiting deportation.
Two separate inquiries were held following the escape and Mr Nwokoye’s death. The government-appointed inquiry submitted its preliminary findings and recommendations to the Home Affairs Ministry in August. The interim report has not been made public and the ministry only released a summary of the findings last week. A ministry spokesman declined to explain the delay.
The Scicluna inquiry makes a number of recommendations. It said all detention officers should be given first aid training and also training in dealing with complex situations.
It also recommended the installation of CCTV cameras in all detention centres and said handheld video cameras should be used in the event of any serious incidents.
The ministry said after the publication of the preliminary findings that training in first aid and complex situation management would start shortly. The process to install CCTV cameras in detention centres was under way.
The board’s conclusion that there were grounds for disciplinary action to be taken against a number of detention officers was being “considered in detail”, the ministry said.
It is still unknown what exactly happened on the night of April 16 for the detention officers involved to merit disciplinary action or what form the disciplinary action will take. The ministry declined to say whether the officers involved had been suspended pending the release of the autopsy result.
Attempts at contacting Mr Scicluna were unsuccessful.