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Karl Stagno-Navarra
The fate of an experienced police sergeant and a young constable lies in the hands of Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani Grima who is leading the inquiry into the death of a 52 year-old man, gunned down by the police last Friday night in Qormi.
The inquiry is expected to determine whether both officers were justified in firing their weapons, or used excessive force while attempting to restrain Sebastian Borg, 52 of Qormi, who according to witnesses repeatedly challenged and threatened the officers with a pen-knife.
Both officers are being detained pending internal police investigations, and are currently under constant psychiatric and medical observation due to stress and shock.
Visibly distraught, Police Commissioner John Rizzo addressed a press conference yesterday making it clear that the police force will co-operate fully with the inquiring magistrate.
An autopsy performed at St Lukes Hospital yesterday confirmed that Sebastian Borg was killed by five bullets, all of which were fired from police issue revolvers, while a pathology report forwarded to the inquiring magistrate explained that one bullet was extracted from the forehead, another from the shoulder and three from the chest of the deceased man.
During the press conference, it emerged that Sebastian Borg was known to the police, particularly for his violent past. Some 19 years ago, Borg had grieviously injured a police officer with a knife not far from where Friday’s incident occurred.
Borg was a regular patient at Mount Carmel Hospital, from where he was reportedly discharged just a few days ago.
A long list of civilian witnesses to the incident, that unfolded at the crossroads between Main Street and Correa Street in Qormi just after 10.30pm last Friday, all seem to tally in their account.
“It was a situation where either one or the other would have made it,” one witness told this paper, while Police Commissioner John Rizzo explained that without putting any prejudice, ‘prima facie’ the case is one of self-defence.
He went on to give a blow by blow account of events that led to the shooting, explaining how a sergeant and two constables from the Qormi Police Station responded to three reports made in succession from people claiming to have been threatened and had their cars damaged by a deranged man who was roaming the streets shouting abuse at anybody who came in his way.
The police intercepted the well-built man – later identified as Sebastian Borg – however he hurriedly crossed the road and refused to stop and be searched.
While one policeman remained at the wheel of the police car, his colleague and another sergeant continued their pursuit on foot eventually catching up with Borg in Correa Street.
It was here that Sebastian Borg brandished a pen-knife and started to wave it at the police, shouting abuse and challenging the officers to a fight, Rizzo said yesterday.
While instructing his subordinate to move backwards, the sergeant facing Sebastian Borg drew his revolver and fired a warning shot. Rizzo added that this, however, did not deter the aggressor who continued approaching the officer.
The sergeant started walking backwards slowly, constantly talking to Borg and trying to convince him to put down his knife and to surrender.
However, the sergeant tripped in his own feet, fell backwards and bumped his head on the ground, giving his aggressor the advantage to tower above him with the knife in hand.
It was here that the sergeant allegedly fired a shot that hit Borg in his shoulder. However, as the sergeant managed to get back on his feet and Borg tried to flee, he was immediately intercepted by the third officer who used the police car to block the aggressor’s escape.
According to Rizzo, Sebastian Borg, knife in hand ran towards the police car, and putting his head into the passenger window, attacked the officer at the wheel.
The sergeant and the officer who came to their colleagues’ assistance managed to distract Sebastian Borg from the police car. Borg, however, chose to challenge them once again, by running towards them with the knife. Shots rang out, and this time Sebastian Borg fell to the ground in a pool of blood.
Borg was certified dead on the spot by paramedics dispatched from St Lukes Hospital.
Police Commissioner John Rizzo, who had just landed at the airport, went straight to the incident site and was briefed about the case by Assistant Commissioners Paul Sammut and Manwel Cassar who are handling the investigations. |
