A magistrate yesterday rebuked the police for charging a teenager with drinking alcohol in a public place, during last year’s Isle of MTV concert.

“How many people were there at the concert, three or four?” Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona sarcastically asked the policeman who had stopped the 16-year-old at the concert.

Why had this particular girl been picked on out of the 40,000 who were there?

Police Constable Aaron Caruana replied that she was the one he had spotted with alcohol.

Did anyone in the police force teach officers how to be practical? Magistrate Micallef Trigona shot back.

He then read out the section of the law which stated that when a minor was caught with alcohol, he or she would be issued with a warning but only placed under formal charge if caught again.

Police Inspector Godwin Scerri said the girl had in fact been warned before.

But the magistrate was having none of it, saying the charge only recorded one incident. He acquitted her of drinking alcohol in a public place and of the other charge of trying to buy it. Lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace appeared for the girl.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.