A soldier who was charged with covering up for two colleagues accused of killing a migrant has been jailed for 18 months after a court found that he had tampered with evidence in connection with the case.

Lance Bombardier Gordon Pickard, 37, of Zabbar, was convicted of changing details about the crime and creating traces to cover up for his colleagues after having seen and stopped the immigrant from being kicked. 

Magistrate Anthony Vella found that Mr Pickard had changed details of the crime involving Malian Mamadou Kamara, 32, who was certified dead in a Detention Service van outside the Paola health centre on the night of June 29, 2012.

A post mortem examination revealed that he had died due to severe blows to his lower abdominal area. 

The court ruled that the soldiers had agreed on a version and had insisted with the police that Mr Kamara was resisting them. 

Magistrate Vella said Mr Pickard had not been charged with the incident involving Mr Kamara as he had done nothing to him but had stopped another soldier from continuing to kick him. 

He noted how Mr Pickard had denied agreeing on a version with anybody and insisted that he had always said the truth but he was evasive when asked why he had changed his version of events. 

Handing down his judgment, Magistrate Vella commented on what he described as a messa in scena by the three army officials. 

"The soldiers mentioned another two detention officers not to get the blame for what had happened. These soldiers, who are meant to protect the country's security, chose to hide the evidence so that the truth about what led to the migrant's death remains secret," the magistrate said. 

"The court is reaching this conclusion because there is no other explanation on what they did," he added, as he jailed him for 18 months. 

Police Inspectors Keith Arnaud, Tony Cachia and Spiridione Zammit prosecuted. 

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