A hunter from Mosta who last November made the headlines after allegedly shooting down a booted eagle, was back in court  court today for the compilation of evidence after he was accused of  having hunted the protected species. 

Justin Chetcuti had been filmed by  Birdlife Malta members on November 2 in the area of Buskett and Tal-Virtu' in Rabat.

He is pleading not guilty.

The prosecution told the court that at about 9.15am of the day of the incident, the Administrative Law Enforcement unit was informed that a protected bird had been shot down over the Tal-Virtu' area.

The police scoured the area of Wied tal-Isqof where they came across a red Isuzu van whose owner turned out to be the accused. The hunter informed the police that he had a bird caller which he handed over to the officers. 

After consulting footage shown by the Birdlife activists the police confirmed that the accused was the same person captured on video. In the video the man was shown  bare-chested and with a white sweater tied around his waist, throwing away two cartridges, one red and one black, while acting rather nervously. 

Several police officers who on the day of the offence were in the vicinity of Tal-Virtu' and the Laferla Cross, testified how they had seen a large bird fly overhead, then heard a succession of shots and saw the eagle fall to the ground. Photos of the bird were exhibited in court. 

Since the eagle fell onto private land, the police called at a farmhouse and obtained access to search for the wounded bird which eventually was discovered dead among a cauliflower patch. 

A ballistic expert testified that he had examined the pellets from the discarded cartridges, which police declared to have been larger than the legally permitted size. 

Two officers also testified how later that same day, at around 6.00pm, they had returned to the area with the accused and managed to retrieve the discarded cartridges. 

Three members from Birdlife Malta who formed part of the monitoring team at the time of the shooting, also testified about the sequence of events which eventually led to the arrest of the accused.

One witness said that the team had been watched through a telescope after shots were heard and the eagle was seen falling to the ground. The suspect, whose face was recognizable through the telescope, appeared nervous after sensing the presence of the birdwatchers. 

He was seen talking to a third party, wearing a green t-shirt, who today also took the witness stand to testify how he had met the accused in the Tal-Virtu' area after having heard shots and seen the eagle flip over in the sky. The accused had been carrying a shotgun, the witness declared. 

"Yes, it's him" replied the witness after being asked to identify the accused in court. Other witnesses also confirmed that the accused was the same person arrested on suspicion of being the eagle hunter. 

Inspector Pierguido Saliba prosecuted.

Lawyers Matthew Bondin and Maroushka Debono were defence counsel.