Four former prison guards were today sentenced to five years in jail on conviction of having beaten up a Dutchman when he briefly escaped from prison in 2008.

Francis Debono and Francis Meli were condemned to five years and three months in jail while Daniel Cuischieri and George Falzon were sentenced to five years behind bars.

The four were arraigned soon after the prison breakout and recapture of Perry Ignomar Toornstra.  He had escaped from a prison van. Once recaptured and taken into the prison, he was beaten and suffered a broken arm and broken ribs. The incident was recorded on a CCTV camera. Then prison director Sandro Gatt had resigned in the wake of the incident.

Toornstra himself had been accused of beating the officers but was acquitted.

He was imprisoned in 2000 for importing ecstasy, with his 20-year prison sentence later reduced to 15 years on appeal.  He was also fined €60,000 which he said he could never pay, meaning he had to spend another year in prison.

In 2008 a court ordered his imprisonment for a further nine months and fined him €600 for possession of cocaine hidden in a parcel of toiletries delivered to him in jail.

In a letter sent to the Justice Minister and the press in January 2011, Toornstra said he intended to sue the government for his horrendous and disgraceful treatment he was getting in prison.

He said that three officers who he said witnessed the “abuse” and “torture” he had suffered and “lied” to cover up their colleagues were still working in prison and “ill-treating” him every day.