Two soldiers accused of murdering an illegal immigrant were yesterday granted bail after a five-hour long court sitting in which the victim was depicted as mentally unstable and viciously violent.

Gunner Clive Cuschieri, 29, of Paola, and Sergeant Mark Anthony Dimech, 44, of Gżira, were released after paying a deposit of €9,000 each and making a personal guarantee of €30,000 each.

Lance Bombardier Gordon Pickard, 35, from Żabbar, is pleading not guilty to tampering with evidence in connection with the case.

Detention Service officers Christopher Parnis and Aronne Gravina testified that Sgt Dimech was well respected by the immigrants. He had even entered a burning building during a riot to rescue one of them.

Malian Mamadou Kamara, 32, was certified dead in a Detention Service van outside the Paola health centre on the night of June 29.

A post mortem examination revealed that he had died due to severe blows to his lower abdominal area, Police Inspector Keith Arnaud testified.

Mr Kamara first exhibited mental instability at about 3 p.m. on June 29 when the police were called to the Floriana health centre because the staff suspected he had escaped detention, the officer said.

He was handcuffed and taken to the Safi detention centre in an uneventful journey, during which he sang Bob Marley songs.

Back at the centre he started to annoy the other residents by taking their things, staring at them, joking around and being generally unpleasant, Mr Arnaud said.

Sometime later, Mr Kamara was taken back to the health centre after complaining of stomach problems and a severe headache.

A doctor issued a certificate for him to be referred to the psychiatric unit of Mater Dei Hospital.

Although the admission was urgent, the doctor told the officers Mr Kamara could be admitted the following morning once he was not being violent.

Back at the detention centre, the situation began to deteriorate to the point that about 40 of the migrants began to threaten to riot or even beat up Mr Kamara if he was allowed to remain with them, the witness said.

Detention Service officer Dominic Seguna said that Mr Kamara would have ended up like a “black omelette” had he remained there overnight. The other immigrants were like “monkeys at the fence”, ready to tear him apart, he said.

Inspector Arnaud said that Sgt Dimech, who was in charge at the time, decided to move Mr Kamara to another area when he bolted “like lightning” through a gate and out on to the road.

Gnr Cuschieri and Sgt Dimech chased Mr Kamara in a Toyota van, belonging to Detention Service, followed by Lance Bombardier Pickard in his white Seat Ibiza.

They caught up with him in Triq Irqajja, Safi, where he was hiding behind a blue van.

Inspector Arnaud said Sgt Dimech put his full body weight on Mr Kamara to try and subdue him. He had no handcuffs and neither did Gnr Cuschieri. At one point, Mr Kamara started to get up and managed to stand as he struggled to loosen himself from Sgt Dimech’s grip.

During the struggle, Mr Kamara head-butted Sgt Dimech, bit him on his left hand and caused a number of injuries to him, including to his knees and arms.

The migrant managed to get free but Sgt Dimech soon grabbed him by the arms from behind.

“Out of the blue” Gnr Cuschieri kicked Mr Kamara very hard on his lower body some five times. Gnr Cuschieri admitted doing so, specifying his intention had been to try and get him to drop to the ground, Mr Arnaud said.

At this point, Lance Bombardier Pickard arrived and saw Gnr Cuschieri kick the victim and he pushed the soldier to stop, the prosecuting officer testified.

They then managed to arrest him and place him in the van with Gnr Cuschieri driving. They took him back to the centre and on arrival Gnr Cuschieri called out of the window to detention officers Frans Scerri and Marco Cuschieri to get handcuffs.

When the two men opened the back of the van, they saw Mr Kamara lying unconscious on the floor and they handed the handcuffs to Lance Bombardier Pickard and Sgt Dimech, who handcuffed the migrant’s feet and hands.

Lance Bombardier Pickard ordered the two detention officers to get into the back of the van, into what is known as the cage. This, Mr Scerri and Mr Cuschieri noted, was something very unusual. They added that the three accused men disappeared into an office and emerged three minutes later.

They then drove to the Paola health centre where the victim was declared dead.

Mr Scerri and Mr Cuschieri testified that Lance Bombardier Pickard and Sgt Dimech had approached them separately to claim that the victim had been very aggressive at the detention centre when this was not the case.

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