The man who spent three days in custody after being wrongly accused of a hold-up on a confectionery store in August 2013 has won a measly €150 compensation for having his human rights breached.
Describing the sum as "minimal", his lawyers David Camilleri and Joseph Gatt said they will be filing a case before the European Court of Human Rights because the compensation was low when considering that their client had been deprived of his liberty, considering to be a high-ranking right.
Aside from the compensation, however, they were satisfied that the Constitutional Court had upheld their claim that their client's right had been breached.
The court, presided over by Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri and judges Giannino Caruana Demajo and Noel Cuschieri ruled that Darryl Luke Borg's right had been breached as a result of his wrongful arrest and arraignment over something he had not done.
Through today's judgment, the court overturned a decision in July last year by the First Hall of the Civil Court in its Constitutional jurisdiction which ruled that the police did not act negligently when they arraigned the 27-year-old over the armed robbery and that the two police CID inspectors who took him to court were justified in treating him as a suspect.
In his appeal, Mr Borg’s lawyers insisted that the police could never have had a reasonable suspicion that it was their client because CCTV footage of the crime showed it was clearly not him. The person seen and later convicted had a completely different stature.
They also argued that the police failed to immediately withdraw proceedings against him despite someone else admitting to the crime and that as a result, Mr Borg remained behind bars for an extra 24 hours.
The robbery occurred at The Convenience Shop, a grocery store in Mgr Alfred Mifsud Street, Birkirkara, on August 8, 2013.
The court had heard that Police Inspectors Joseph Mercieca and Carlos Cordina received confidential information that Mr Borg was the culprit and he was charged in court the following day and held in custody.
Two days later, Police Inspector Elton Taliana charged Roderick Grech, 22, from Birkirkara, with the same crime after he confessed and even handed over a balaclava and a plastic toy gun used during the hold-up.
Mr Grech was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended for four years, after the court heard that he used the €630 to settle gambling debts.
In its judgment, the Constitutional Court noted that the CID officers' decision to arrest Mr Borg was truly based on a reasonable suspicion and that the arrest was not arbitrary. Having said that, the court also noted that at no point during his arraignment did Mr Borg complain that his arrest was invalid. The arraignment per se did not bach Mr borg's rights, the court said.
Moreover, it found as "reasonable" the time that passed from when Mr Grech was arraigned and sentenced to when Inspector Mercieca was informed and consulted with the Attorney General's office on the matter.
It, however, found that Mr Borg's conditional release from arrest once it was ascertained that a mistake had been committed was in breach of his right to liberty. It therefore found a brach of right from the minute he was released on bail until when the charges were effectively withdrawn three days later.
The court therefore ordered the Police Commissioner to pay Mr Borg €150 in compensation after noting that Mr Borg had contributed to the breach by not requesting his unconditional release rather than bail.