A hunter accused of shooting down three white storks last August, in an incident that caused a nation-wide media frenzy, was cleared of six out of eight charges on Thursday.
He ended up with a fine and 2-year licence ban for carrying a loaded weapon in breach of law.
James Magri, 42, from Dingli had been arraigned days after the birds were shot down near Dingli.
A flock of some 18 of the protected birds had flown to Malta. They flew over Dingli school and some came to rest on a pole close to the accused’s property.
Early in the evening of August 10, two of Mr Magri’s friends had paid their habitual visit to the accused’s field in the limits of Dingli where they would meet up for a coffee and a chat.
The two men later testified that they had spotted the flight of storks, watching as some of the birds approached their viewpoint inside the accused’s field.
They suddenly heard three shots in succession. The accused had walked away a while before, taking his hunting shotgun with him.
He returned shortly afterwards, appearing somewhat “confused” (ftit imgerfex) telling his friends to pack up and leave.
Later that evening, the man had called one of his friends allegedly saying, “I’ve put my foot in it,”(għaffiġtha)
When testifying, both friends had said that they had not seen any dead birds, whether on the ground or in their friend’s possession.
However, they did say that they had spotted a man riding his bike along the main road soon after the shooting, as the trio left the field, each going separate ways.
That cyclist turned out to be the man who had reportedly been observing the flight of the protected birds in the Dingli skies and had immediately alerted Birdlife when he heard the shots and watched three of the birds plummet downwards.
Cycling in the direction of the shots, the witness had recalled having caught sight of a man, armed with a rifle, a bird in one hand, just as he disappeared down some sort of country path.
The suspect had soon re-appeared, the bird no longer in sight, the witness had explained.
Yet, after closely analysing the footage from the cyclist’s action camera, the Court observed that the person filmed at a distance could not be identified.
Although the police had searched the area of the shooting, they had only recovered one of the three storks allegedly shot down, namely the one that had landed on private property few meters away from the accused’s field.
Moreover, the court observed that searches at the accused’s home had yielded a showcase of stuffed birds and two freezers, but “nothing irregular” in the man’s possession.
In the light of such lack of evidence, the court “could never find guilt with respect to the first six charges,” the judgment declared.
However, the evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused had been carrying a loaded weapon without its cover and in a place not open to hunting, the court, presided over by magistrate Astrid May Grima, declared, fining him €3500 and suspending his hunting licence for two years.
Lawyer Edward Gatt was defence counsel.