Motorist, 24, not guilty of attack on RIU officers facing assault charge

A court has dismissed the case against 24 year-old Jean Paul Aquilina from Mosta this morning, saying that reasonable doubt remained with regards the accusations that he attacked two policemen.

Aquilina had been arrested in May and subsequently charged with drunk driving, disobeying police orders and assaulting RIU police officers Mark Tonna and David Camilleri. Charges of dangerous driving, driving without a seatbelt and using a mobile telephone whilst driving were also laid against him in a subsequent sitting.

From the outset, it was clear that this was no ordinary drink-driving case, however and early on in the proceedings, Aquilina’s lawyer, Mario De Marco, had hinted to there being hidden motives for his client’s arrest. His masterful cross-examination of the two policemen was a textbook display of oral argument, exposing flaw after serious flaw in the two officers’ version of events. 

Today Magistrate Carol Peralta noted the diverging testimonies submitted by the parties; the prosecution accusing Aquilina of attacking the officers on one hand and Aquilina claiming to have been beaten by the officers after his car was pulled over as he was leaving a family barbeque at Mgarr with his girlfriend, on the other.

The officers are now also facing charges relating to the incident in separate, connected, proceedings and are denying beating Aquilina and committing a crime they were duty-bound to prevent. The court said it was also taking the parallel proceedings into consideration in reaching its conclusion.

The Magistrate noted the similarity of the incorrect ID card numbers which the accused had given the officers and led to his arrest, observing that Aquilina has a habit of rushing his speech. He also criticised the actions of one policeman who had threatened to arrest a member of Aquilina’s family, after he had stopped and asked to approach the accused at the scene, describing him as having “no manners”.

Several other factors gave credence to Aquilina’s version of events, which had been corroborated by his girlfriend Josianne Vassallo. The magistrate recalled her 112 phone call, a recording of which had been played in court, the panic in her voice audible.

But the most glaring of all flaws in the prosecution's arguments was the absence of injuries suffered by the officers supposedly attacked, compared to the photographs of extensive bruises sustained by the accused.

All these factors, said the magistrate, created reasonable doubt to the court which militated in favour of the accused. As it could not be morally convinced that the charges had been proved beyond reasonable doubt, the court found Aquilina not guilty of all charges.

Today’s sentence would not appear to bode well for the two RIU officers who have since been charged with assaulting Aquilina. Their case, also being heard by Magistrate Peralta, continues in September.