Thirteen people who had posted angry comments on Facebook directed at restaurant owners in Għajn Tuffieħa over an act of animal cruelty have been cleared of all liability after a magistrate found several procedural defects in the prosecution’s case. 

A photo of the kitten that was killed in Għajn Tuffieħa.

Last August, an unidentified man was seen chasing a stray kitten out of the Apple’s Eye restaurant and then beating the animal to death, in full view of patrons dining nearby. 

The incident had prompted outrage on social media, with many directing their posts at the restaurant owners, who insisted they had nothing to do with the alleged cat killer.

The family who own the restaurant ultimately turned towards the police, filing a report about a series of comments and perceived threats made in their regard.

Thirteen suspects were identified and prosecuted for having allegedly threatened the proprietors of the restaurant via Facebook as well as with the misuse of electronic equipment.

However, magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech observed that the prosecution’s cases were riddled with procedural defects.

The first charge, being a contravention, was time-barred and had been withdrawn by the prosecution in the course of the proceedings.

However, even if this time factor had not entered into play, the charge would still have faltered on account of the fact that defamatory comments, unless amounting to threats, were no longer prosecutable offences following amendments to the law.

Any action in this respect would have to be of “a purely civil nature,” the court observed.

The matter would have been different had the comments amounted to threats.

However, even in this case, the prosecution would have had to prove that the threats were real in terms of law, involving a future and unjust wrong against the intended victim, the court went on, adding that the comments posted by all 13 accused did not amount to such threats.

People prosecuted by the police had allegedly posted comments such as “If I was there I stone him to death and make sure he is dead before I report myself to the police, sick pathetic liar” and “This is the act killer of appple’s eye….may you rot in hell”.

As for the alleged misuse of electronic equipment, the prosecution had rested solely upon information obtained through Facebook and investigations into open sources and local service providers.

Reports on these findings amounted merely to hearsay evidence and were thus inadmissible unless confirmed by representatives of entities concerned, the court said.

In the absence of such evidence, the prosecution failed to prove the link between the alleged criminal conduct and the accused, who were therefore acquitted.

The court also criticised the “totally anomalous and irregular” practice adopted by the police, who had summoned the accused to the local police station, not to question them as suspects, but to inform them that charges would be issued in their regard, a practice which was nowhere mirrored under our law.