A man accused of assaulting two police officers in Mġarr in May insisted today that he did not lay a finger on them and had been beaten up for no apparent reason.

Jean Paul Aquilina, 24, from Mosta, insisted that he was not drunk, was not swerving as he drove on the Mġarr bypass and had done nothing to provoke the attack.

He was testifying his defence in his own case in which he stands charged with dangerous driving, assaulting two Rapid Intervention Unit police officers and disobeying their orders.

In a separate sitting, officers David Camilleri and Mark Tonna denied beating Mr Aquilina on May 3 at about 1am and to committing a crime they were duty-bound to prevent.

Mr Aquilina said that as he was driving home from a family barbecue in Mġarr and his mobile rang. He looked at the screen to see who it was when he saw beacon lights and a police siren that signalled them to stop.

The officers claimed Mr Aquilina was swerving but he insisted he was driving normally, he said.

The officers then asked him to step out of the car, which he did. Mr Aquilina said he was talking to Mr Tonna as his girlfriend, Josione Vassallo, stood by their car. He gave him his ID card number and Mr Tonna got into the police car. All of a sudden, as he was about to get into his car to grab his mobile phone, Mr Camilleri grabbed him from behind, by the neck, punched him in the eye and pushed him to the ground, face down. Mr Tonna ran towards them and held his hands behind his back while Mr Camilleri placed his shoe on Mr Aquilina’s face.

“He was punching me and kicking me. I did not tell them anything, and I did not insult them,” Mr Aquilina said.

But to this Magistrate Carol Peralta said: “This does not make sense because according to you it was unprovoked.”

To this Mr Aquilina shrugged his shoulders.

“Cars were passing so the officers lifted me up and threw me onto my car, smashing the side mirror of my car in the process. They dragged me to the pavement and placed me there, again face down, while Mr Camilleri continued to kick me until another police car arrived and I was handcuffed and brought back onto my feet,” he said.

Eventually he was taken to the Mosta health centre and later to Mater Dei Hospital. He still needs an operation to fix a bone in his nose.

Replying to questions by parte civile lawyer Tonio Azzopardi, appearing for Mr Camilleri, Mr Aquilina said he could not explain the scratches he sustained. He also denied hitting any of the officers, warning them that he would speak to the minister and have them sacked for placing his hand on the police weapon.

Mr Aquilina also denied tearing the officers’ uniform and this was corroborated by all the witnesses who testified seeing the officers’ uniform intact, not only on site in Mġarr but even at the Mosta police station later on.

Jason Vassallo, Mr Aquilina’s girlfriend’s father, testified that he received a call from his “hysterical” daughter at 1.20am, saying Mr Aquilina was being beaten up by the police and “come quickly because they’re going to kill him”.

He was on site within four minutes where he found “between eight and 12 police officers”.

“I was asking around to see who beat him up and Mr Camilleri told me it was him and he was not ashamed of saying so. (Mhux se noqghod niddejjaq nghidlek). He was almost proud of what he had done. His polo shirt was not torn. I saw him (Mr Camilleri) at the police station later and his T-shirt was intact,” Mr Vassallo said.

The case continues next week.

Lawyer Mario de Marco is appearing for Mr Aquilina. Dr Azzopardi is appearing for Mr Camilleri and Arthur Azzopardi and Kathleen Grima are representing Mr Tonna.