A policeman who accidentally shot his colleague during an unauthorised training session in an unused tourist village was fined €4,000.

Shawn Axiaq, 26, from San Ġwann, was part of a six-man group of former mobile squad officers who went to the White Rocks complex in Pembroke at about 3am on May 1, 2009, to practise how to approach robbers inside a building.

Some of them were to hide and the others to look for them, shout-ing ‘boom’ when spotting any of the ‘robbers’.

Although Axiaq, who is still a serving policeman, had been told by his superior, Police Inspector Jonathan Ransley, who was a sergeant at the time, to disable the service gun, Mr Axiaq reloaded it when he thought the exercise was over and accidentally shot a colleague when training resumed.

Peter Sammut, 46, was hit in the left side of his chest, the bullet going right through him, passing very close to a main artery, the court heard.

Mr Ransley had sent an SMS to his colleagues on duty asking them to meet at the White Rocks for the training session. He did not seek official approval before doing so.

Before the exercise started, he had ordered the officers not to cock their guns at any point, even telling them to remove the weapon’s magazine and not to pull the trigger for any reason.

Testifying, Mr Axiaq said that when he noticed everyone leaving the complex he thought that the exercise was over. He therefore reloaded the gun and as he was leaving the place a colleague suggested they show the rest how it’s done because they had already been through such training.

He got a fright, instantly pulling the trigger and hitting his colleague in the chest

He said he walked back into the building and, as he turned, Mr Sammut saw him and said “boom”. This, Mr Axiaq said, took him by surprise and he got a fright, instantly pulling the trigger and hitting his colleague in the chest.

Once he realised what had happened he said he went into shock and “lost consciousness”.

The weapon was a nine millimetre Glock 17, one of the most widely used in law enforcement agencies around the world because it is reliable, easy to handle and takes more bullets than most other pistols.

Magistrate Edwina Grima noted that Mr Axiaq had loaded the gun, cocked it and placed his finger on the trigger, which were all serious shortcomings considering that the weapon was being used by a police officer, who should have known better.

The magistrate said that while it was commendable that Mr Ransley wanted to train his colleagues, he should have never taken it upon himself to make such a decision without informing his superiors.

However, she agreed with the conclusions of the magisterial inquiry that no action should be taken against him because he did order his men to take precautions, which were ignored.

Magistrate Grima said that although Mr Axiaq was taught and trained how to handle a firearm he was not able to follow the instructions given. Yet, he had no intention to harm his colleague, she added.