Police Commissioner John Rizzo is considering taking action following a mistake by one of his more experienced officers that let three policemen off the hook over the alleged beating of a French student.

Magistrate had ‘no option’ but to find accused not guilty

Mr Rizzo confirmed that he was looking into the acquittal of three of his men because of this technicality.

President George Abela, who presides over the Commission for the Administration of Justice, last week urged prosecuting officers to be careful when issuing charges.

“If mistakes are made, someone has to answer for them but care has to be taken in including the exact date and time in the charge sheet,” Dr Abela said.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke let the three policemen and a n ightclub bouncer off the hook because they could have never been found guilty. Yet one of the officers cleared of beating a French University exchange student continues to plead his innocence, irrespective of the circumstances of his acquittal.

Police Sergeant Ramon Mifsud Grech, 41, was one of the officers who, along with the bouncer, was cleared of beating the student and holding him against his will.

The presiding magistrate noted that the wrong date and time appeared on the charge sheet. It resulted in court that the alleged crime took place 13 hours before the time indicated on the charge sheet.

It allegedly happened at 3.30 a.m. on October 25, 2009, when charges brought against the accused referred to an incident at 11 p.m.

According to Mr Mifsud Grech, this was not the only reason why the case was thrown out. He said he noticed the mistake but did not speak out because he was the accused.

“I’m not going to point out something that goes against my interests,” he admitted.

When contacted, Mr Mifsud Grech said he and his colleagues maintained their innocence since the very beginning. In fact, he added, their statements and testimonies in court corroborated each other.

Mr Mifsud Grech, from Birkirkara, Jean Paul Vella, 24, from St Julians, Brian Tonna, 31, from Ħamrun and bouncer Jonathan Micallef, 29, from Birkirkara were cleared of the charges brought against them.

Wrong charge

But one officer maintains he is innocent

French student Jean-Oliver Mesrine did not testify before Magistrate Clarke but his testimony given to Inquiring Magistrate Edwina Grima was read out in court.

Mr Mesrine claimed the uniformed policeman who beat him had been drinking. The four were accused of assaulting and slightly injuring Mr Mesrine in Escobar, Paceville, holding him against his will and damaging his camera.

The officers were also charged with committing a crime they were in duty-bound to prevent.

Mr Mifsud Grech insists the student had invented a whole story about him and his colleagues.

“At 3 a.m. we start doing the rounds in Paceville, telling bars to lower their music gradually so that, at 4 a.m., they turn it off completely.

“When we got to Escobar, the owner offered us a drink. I had a Red Bull and my constables had a soft drink and we spent time speaking to him. While we were at the bar, this student who was there with a friend took pictures of us.”

He admitted he was not happy being photographed because “it’s not something nice that your photos end up on the internet”.

He said that he therefore asked the bouncer to tell the student to erase the photos.

“I saw the bouncer approaching the student but then my inspector called me to rush down the road where there was a massive fight. In fact, 15 minutes after the alleged incident, I was filing a report on the police system,” he said.

Mr Mifsud Grech said that a Turkish man, who was also working as a bouncer on the night of the incident, had too been accused of participating in the same incident but had left Malta and never appeared again.

Mr Mifsud Grech said he could not explain why the French student would have invented such a story.

He is the same officer who was allegedly assaulted by suspended Police Inspector Jeffrey Cilia who is facing charges of attacking two brothers in Paceville.

Referring to a claim by defence lawyer Joe Giglio in court that he had been reprimanded and suspended for twice being caught drunk while on duty, Mr Mifsud Grech said this was just a claim and had not been proven.

Evidence produced in court shows Mr Mifsud Grech had received a severe warning for “drinking while on duty” in January 2008.

Lawyer Roberto Montalto, who appeared parte civile for the alleged victim, said his client’s version had been corroborated by that of the person who was with him at the time, Daniel Zeman.

He said that as proof there were medical records, the other foreigner who witnessed the whole incident and an identification parade in which he identified the people whom his client claimed had beat him.

Asked why he had not pointed out the mistake during the proceedings, Dr Montalto said his client had not instructed him to represent him at every sitting, just at the beginning and again at the end.

Dr Montalto felt that the magistrate should have found the accused guilty of the charges brought against them because the time difference was minimal.

“Had it been a matter of days or a month I would accept it, but it’s only a few hours,” he said.

However, other criminal lawyers who were contacted disagreed, saying the magistrate had “no option” but to declare the accused not guilty once the details in the charge sheet were incorrect.