This is the account given by Reno Azzopardi:
"On Wednesday, April 9 my family received a phonecall at 10.30 p.m. to go to the (police) depot without being given any reason why... They were met by Inspector Louise Calleja telling them that Nicholas had hurt a policeman, ran away and jumped from a window and at the moment he is critical at the ITU in Mater Dei Hospital.
"My father and I spoke to the doctors who said that the injuries were to his ribcage. He had no other injuries. He did not have any head injuries, his spine was intact and he had no broken legs, just a broken, totally crushed left hand, a totally crushed left-side ribcage, a totally crushed left lung plus half of the right lung.
"The doctor there explained to me that his lungs looked as if you took a bunch of grapes and hit it hard against the floor. He also had a lot of internal bleeding.
"After spending a week and a half taking morphine, on the evening of Saturday, April 19, when he woke up he started talking to us. He said: 'I was beaten up, I was beaten up... I was beaten up at the depot in Floriana just after I walked in.
"I had received a phonecall saying I should go to the depot immediately and take my daughter with me. When I arrived I found my wife and her mother waiting there. My daughter was taken away by a policeman.
"He gave the number of this policeman and said he was then led away by two big men wearing blue but without any numbers. He mentioned going downstairs, somewhere in a lock-up. He said that as he was let into the cell, they immediately started insulting him.
"In self defence he pushed a policeman against the wall and the policeman reacted with a number of side kicks. He didn't remember anything else. He only vaguely remembers seeing the sea and the sea is visible from the bastions leading to the ditch where he was found.
"He also recalled that he remembered the faces of his aggressors. He remembered injuring one of them in self-defence and he could clearly identify both of them. After this I immediately phoned Dr Raphael Fenech Adami and I informed him about the matter.
"He told me: 'This is a very serious case, I will come over to the hospital to take a statement from him and will also inform Magistrate Anthony Vella who is conducting the court inquiry'.
"Dr Vella didn't go (to hospital) and I started phoning up people immediately, trying to get in touch with the Prime Minister or somebody high up because I was really worried about the safety of my brother. I was really afraid something bad would happen to him, plus I wanted to get the magistrate to hear his testimony as soon as possible. As a result of my phonecalls, we were assured that the Minister of Justice would call the magistrate.
"My brother miraculously was removed from the ITU; we were really surprised. All the life-support and breathing machinery was removed and he was taken to Ward 1.
"I was there in the afternoon at 5.30. I didn't want to wake him up but he woke up on his own and shortly after Magistrate Anthony Vella walked in, accompanied by three other people, including Assistant Police Commissioner (Emanuel) Cassar and Inspector Graziella Muscat who headed his interrogation and who was in charge of his safety at the police depot. I was really surprised to see her there.
"The magistrate and another person interviewed him at length while I waited outside with the Assistant Police Commissioner and the Police Inspector. The magistrate came out together with the lawyer he had with him and said that now he had to interview me. He interviewed me at length. I gave him the version I gave you. He said: 'You're not saying the same thing because there are some dates that he (Nicholas) is not remembering'. I said to him: Mr Magistrate, I don't even remember what I ate yesterday if I don't take note of it let alone a person who has been in coma for two weeks at the ITU. He said there was so much confusion that they didn't even bother to record him. I was shocked.
"A few hours later, at 11 p.m., I received a phonecall, a recorded message which I picked up at 12 a.m. and which said: 'Rush to hospital; your brother has taken a turn for the worse and you should come really very quickly'. I was there with my dad at 12.30 a.m. and I was told that he had died...
"I inspected the body. I wanted to use a camera but the nurse said it might cost him his job so I put the camera away. Perhaps I shouldn't have because I would have had better evidence. There were bruises on the left side of his head, hidden under his hair, large, huge bruises on his buttocks, left buttocks and left kidney area, he had a shattered left hand and a shattered left ribcage.
"My brother was a right-handed person. If he defended himself with the right hand, he would be exposing his left side to his aggressors, which is where all the damage was done. Moreover, it would appear to be really strange if he jumped because he couldn't have smashed his left chest and also the back of his head. It doesn't make sense.
"We were also informed that an autopsy would be held much later in the morning but since then we did not get the official certificate saying what was wrong with him and the treatment he received or seen the results of the post mortem examination."