A 23-year-old Mosta man was today charged with having shot a booted eagle yesterday morning. 

A visibly restless and tearful Justin Chetcuti pleaded not guilty of the charges brought against him, in a court presided by magistrate Monica Vella. 

The accused, a self-employed plasterer, covered his face with a jacket blazer as he entered court today, one day after authorities said that poachers had tried to shoot down eagles on four separate occasions over 24 hours. 

Although Mr Chetcuti's charge sheet made no mention of the location of the alleged crime, BirdLife Malta had yesterday said that one of its teams had filmed an eagle being shot at in Tal-Virtu', "leading police to retrieve the carcass of a booted eagle and identify a suspect". 

Prosecutors in court today said that there was video evidence of Mr Chetcuti carrying a shotgun and dumping cartridges into the grass. ALE officers subsequently found the cartridges, although Mr Chetcuti denied any involvement. 

One of the eagles that flew over Malta during the past few days. Photo: Bernard Farrugia

Two BirdLife teams and officers from the Administrative Law Enforcement section had witnessed the eagle being shot at and fall to the ground, they said. The incident happened at around 9.15am. 

One of the cartridges found was larger than that permitted by law, and the court was told that larger cartridges were indicative of an intent to shoot birds flying higher up in the sky.

Police said Mr Chetcuti had opted not to answer their questions during interrogation, and was evasive when challenged about a bird caller ALE officers had discovered.

Mr Chetcuti's lawyers argued that police had arrested and charged their client "merely by deduction". The site he was arrested at was frequented by many hunters and the culprit could have been anyone, they argued.    

Mr Chetcuti, who has one conviction related to a hunting offence back in 2012, was granted bail against a €2,000 deposit and personal guarantee of €10,000.  

Lawyers Matthew Bondin and Marushka Debono were defence counsel. Pierguido Saliba prosecuted.