Police error renders arrest of man accused of threatening couple with knife and pistol invalid

The arrest of a 38-year-old man who was charged with breaking into a residence and threatening a woman with a knife and firearm while accusing her of stealing a thousand euros worth of cocaine has been declared illegal due to a failure to record the time that the police had informed the duty magistrate of the arrest.

Reno Azzopardi was arraigned under arrest before magistrate Leonard Caruana on Tuesday, accused of coercion, possession of a firearm without a licence, carrying a knife in public without a permit, breaking into a residence, uttering insults and threats and recidivism.

The court heard police Inspector Gabriel Kitcher explain that at 4:30am on Monday, officers had reacted to a report by a woman who had found Azzopardi waiting for her inside her friend’s house in Bormla. The defendant accused her of stealing 1000 sachets of cocaine, pulling out a knife and then a pistol from a black briefcase to intimidate her and her friend. 

But Azzopardi fled the scene the moment the woman called the police on her mobile phone. Although no weapons were found when police searched his residence, Inspector Kitcher said he had to be arrested to protect the woman.

At law, the police must inform the duty magistrate within six hours of making an arrest.

Cross-examined by defence lawyer Franco Debono, the prosecutor confirmed that the defendant had been arrested at his home at around 5:20am and that the police had informed the duty magistrate of this at around 11:00am, although the exact time at which the magistrate was told had not been officially recorded.

Debono submitted that the description of “around 11:00am” could mean that it happened at 11:30am, at which point the 6-hour time window for informing the magistrate of the arrest would have been exceeded. 

The court agreed with the defence’s submissions and declared the arrest invalid 

After Azzopardi entered a plea of not guilty to the charges, the court issued a protection order in favour of the alleged victims 

The defendant did not reply to any other questions put to him in court today and did not provide his details to the court, but as his arrest had been declared invalid, no request for bail was necessary. The case against him will now continue by writ of summons.

Inspector Gabriel Kitcher is prosecuting. Lawyers Franco Debono and Francesca Zarb are defence counsel.