A magistrate has ordered three police officers to be investigated for perjury in connection with an affidavit they presented over an illegal trapping case.

Magistrate Anthony Vella, who was presiding over the Administrative Law Enforcement sitting on Wednesday, ordered the investigation after the police officers confirmed under oath that they had individually prepared the affidavits in connection with the case.

However, it turned out that the affidavits were a ‘copy and paste’ job, and even had similar grammatical and spelling mistakes. The case involved Brian Paul Bonello, 49, from Qormi, who was charged with bird trapping during the closed season on March 13 last year in Mtaħleb.

The court finds it impossible to believe that the officers prepared their own affidavits given that they are identical

He was also charged with bird trapping without a valid licence and attempting to trap a protected bird. Mr Bonello, who was represented by lawyer Arthur Azzopardi, was cleared of the charges.

However, while the case was being heard, Dr Azzopardi contested the affidavits presented in court during the case by PCs 1454, 106 and 335 so the police officers were asked to testify in court.

When they appeared, PC 1454 testified that he knew nothing about the case since he remained in the police car while his colleagues were out on patrol. His affidavit, however, stated otherwise, as it was identical to the other two affidavits. The other officers both declared they had typed out their affidavit themselves.

Seeing this, Magistrate Vella summoned police inspector Jesmond Micallef, responsible for the Police Force Internal Affairs, and ordered him to investigate the officers.

The magistrate said he had “reservations” on the veracity of the sworn statements, saying he suspected they were not prepared by the officers individually but by one of them or by a third party.

“The court finds it impossible to believe that the officers prepared their own affidavits given that they are identical,” Magistrate Vella said as he ordered Inspector Micallef to investigate the police officers for perjury or any other crime they could have committed.

“Police officers are duty bound to investigate a crime but also duty bound to protect the citizens and tell the truth while testifying,” the magistrate noted.

The magistrate’s decree was also sent to Police Commissioner Michael Cassar.