A magistrate’s court has complained that police in Gozo wasted its “precious time” in pressing charges against a man without first determining whether the alleged crime had taken place.

Gordy Mercieca, from Kerċem, stood accused of filing a false report after he showed up at the Victoria police station in February and claimed that Josef Mizzi had tried to run him over.

It later turned out that CCTV footage from the scene of the alleged incident did not back the claims.

Only two witnesses testified in the proceedings, with Mr Mizzi himself being one of them. The prosecuting inspector did not testify, making it difficult for the court to understand what had prompted the police to press charges.

On the basis of all evidence put forward, the court concluded that Mr Mercieca had indeed reported an incident which “in his view” had possibly taken place and did not set out with the intention of reporting something which had not occurred.

The prosecution had failed to prove that the accused had intended to fabricate a story, the court declared, thereby acquitting him.

However, the court did not stop there, going on to express concern over a growing practice whereby the police in Gozo pressed charges without first investigating further, leaving it up to the court to decide on their merit.

This translated into “loss of precious time for the Court and unnecessary expenses for the parties involved,” Magistrate Joseph Mifsud observed, adding that the Court would not be party to “stupid and scandalous piques by people who expect to dictate what happens in court”.

The magistrate added that the judiciary, the police and lawyers had a duty not to let the Courts end up as "a forum for the cultivation of rivalry,” further upholding a proposal by Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera to introduce a more rigorous system of scrutiny to ensure that only ‘bona fede’ cases were brought before the courts.