A hunter accused of shooting several storks allegedly rang up his friend after killing the protected birds to say he had “messed up”.
James Magri, a 41-year-old Dingli resident, stands accused of shooting three storks earlier this month.
Before starting the sitting on Monday, magistrate Astrid May Grima declared that her partner is a member of hunting federation FKNK and asked if there was any objection. There was none.
His friend Roderick Galea took the witness stand and told the court that at around 6.30pm on Friday August 10 he had spoken with Mr Magri and another man, Shenizen Borg, at a field in Dingli.
The men had noticed some storks flying nearby and Mr Magri had then moved on, Mr Galea, who was offered immunity from prosecution to testify, told the court.
“We then heard three shots,” he recalled. Mr Magri had subsequently approached them, looking “a bit confused”, told them that he had shot at birds and that they should pack up and leave.Some time later, Mr Magri had called him up and told him “I messed up,” Mr Galea said.
Under cross-examination, Mr Galea told the court that he did not see any dead birds or birds getting shot, and that there were five or six hunting hides in the surrounding area.
The man with Mr Galea, Mr Borg from Birkirkara, also testified, telling the court how he had met Mr Magri at around 6.15pm that evening and found him with his shotgun. Mr Galea arrived some time later, he said, and then they spotted the storks flying above.
“The storks landed on some poles near us. James [Magri] moved to a different position. Shortly afterwards we heard three shots. We didn’t see anything; we kept on looking at the storks. Then he came and said 'close up close up, let’s go'.”
Mr Borg said he hadn’t seen any dead storks either.
“James was a bit agitated when he came back,” he added.
A passer-by, Joseph Psaila, had been cycling in the area where the storks were shot. He told the court that he had stopped to photograph the storks after spotting them.
“By the time I got off the bike one of them flew off,” he said. “I heard some shots and saw some birds go down. When I turned the corner, I saw a man running with a shotgun in one hand and a bird in the other.”
The poacher, Mr Psaila said, vanished into a side street and then returned with just his shotgun in his hand. Mr Psaila tried to call the Administrative Law Enforcement unit but could not find a working phone number for them. He then called BirdLife Malta.
Mr Psaila had a bicycle-mounted camera which captured the incident. A copy of the footage was passed on to police.
ALE officers told the court that they had searched Mr Magri’s house and seized a showcase of stuffed birds.
Prosecuting inspector Colin Sheldon testified and said that Mr Magri’s field was less than a 30 second walk away from where one dead bird had been found.
Defence lawyer Edward Gatt requested bail and said he would be contesting the admissibility of the footage from the bicycle camera.
The court upheld the request for bail, saying all the prosecution witnesses had now testified, on the condition of a €3,000 deposit and a personal guarantee of €7,000. Mr Magri must also sign a bail book once a week.