A junior radiologist’s “misleading opinion” – that an X-ray carried out on a suspected body-packer showed an internal shadow – resulted in a Dutch woman having to undergo unnecessary body searches for drugs, a court heard.

Consultant Joseph Farrugia Agius testified that the decision by the radiologist was probably taken because “someone” was aware that this was a police case and did not want “the ball to stop at his feet”.

Dr Farrugia Agius testified before Mr Justice Joseph R Micallef who is presiding over the civil case filed by Dutchwoman Jennifer Koster against the Police Commissioner.

Ms Koster, 36, who was born in the Dominican Republic, is claiming she was “treated like a dog” when she was arrested soon after her arrival in Malta on a flight from Germany on February 18.

Ms Koster, who comes to Malta regularly to visit her partner of three years, had been taken to hospital where she was internally searched for drugs following an X-ray she consented to having.

She is claiming she was subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment as she had to endure a vaginal examination and was given a laxative and asked to search her own excrement.

In his testimony,  Dr Farrugia Agius explained that as a consultant at Mater Dei Hospital he visited Ms Koster in the morning on February 19.

She had been taken to the Emergency department the previous evening by police who claimed she was a suspected body-packer.

According to normal procedure an X-ray was taken to ensure she had nothing hidden in her stomach or vagina. The radiologist on duty concluded there was “a shadow” in the X-ray so it “may be” that there was something.

On the strength of this, a vaginal examination was carried out immediately ruling out there was anything hidden there. In order to rule out anything in the stomach Ms Koster was kept overnight and given a laxative.

The next morning, the consultant said, he ordered a second opinion by a respected consultant radiologist who said it was clear there was no shadow and “no visible region of concern”.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Angie Muscat are representing Ms Koster.