Two British expatriates charged with breaching the peace, after one of them reported a case of alleged police inaction to the Press, were yesterday acquitted of the charge.

The court found that 27-year-old Rachel Ginty and Ben Ford, 22, were justified in insisting, loudly, that the police arrest a man who, they claimed, had assaulted them and their friend in Paceville five months ago.

The two friends, who work in Malta, insisted they were attacked by Alfred Buhagiar after Ms Ginty told him to calm down when she saw him hit his girlfriend. When the police from the St Julians police station arrived on the scene they did not arrest Mr Buhagiar, who insisted he had never laid a finger on his girlfriend.

Frustrated with the inaction, Ms Ginty turned to The Times which published her story, on May 28, after sending questions to the police which remain unanswered.

Two days after the story was published the police called Ms Ginty and her friends – Mr Ford and James Harris – to the St Julians police station for questioning. They were kept there for about two hours, without being allowed to leave, and asked to release a statement one at a time.

The police issued a statement, on June 3, saying Ms Ginty’s version was not entirely correct and quoting the version of the Maltese couple as undisputed fact. They also said action would be taken against the foreigners and the Maltese man for breaching the peace in Paceville in the early hours of May 21.

Yesterday, Ms Ginty and Mr Ford appeared before Magistrate Francesco Depasquale. Mr Buhagiar is facing separate charges over the same incident.

Although the two Britons did not testify in court, their lawyers referred to the version of events as recounted by Ms Ginty in The Times when she spoke about how she witnessed a Maltese man beat his girlfriend near the eCabs taxi service in Paceville.

She told the man to leave the woman alone and he pushed her to the ground, punched her two friends and smashed a car window.

Ms Ginty said she called the police, who turned up but did not take action against the aggressor. When she went home that night she called the St Julians police station again.

Yesterday, the two police officers involved took the witness stand and said that by the time they were called on the scene, at about 4 a.m., the situation had quietened down.

PC Sean Scicluna and PS Maria Scicluna said Ms Ginty and Mr Ford had breached the peace because they were shouting and insisting that they arrest Mr Buhagiar.

The officers said they could not arrest him because they had not seen him break the law. They confirmed that Mr Buhagiar had a bleeding hand and admitted to smashing the car window in rage and that he paid for the damage.

Mr Buhagiar told the police that one of the foreigners “teased” his girlfriend and when he tried to hit them he accidentally punched the window of a parked car and broke it. The owner of the car did not want to press charges as the two reached a payment agreement, the officers said.

PS Scicluna said the foreigners told her they had intervened because they saw Mr Buhagiar hit his girlfriend. But this was denied by both Mr Buhagiar and his girlfriend who said they were simply arguing, she added.

She said she noticed Mr Ford was bleeding from the nose but he did not want to file a police report. She was not aware that Ms Ginty had been pushed to the ground or that their friend, Mr Harris, had been punched in the face.

Ms Harris also took the stand and confirmed that he and Mr Ford had been punched in the face. He said the incident occurred when he and his friends were heading home after a night out in Paceville where they had been drinking.

They saw Mr Buhagiar holding his girlfriend, shaking her and shouting. Ms Ginty told the man to calm down and he got angry.

Lawyers Stefano Filletti and Paul Pullicino, representing Mr Ford and Ms Ginty, said the accused believed a woman was being attacked by her boyfriend and intervened to help. As a result they ended up in court.

Dr Filletti added that the police did not investigate the allegations of domestic violence.

“Their (Ms Ginty and Mr Ford’s) actions should have been rewarded and not prosecuted in court... It’s strange how action was taken only after the newspaper article was published,” he said.

Magistrate Depasquale cleared the two of the charge after ruling that the circumstances justified their actions.