Woman seeks damages after mistaken police raid leaves her handcuffed, topless for 20 minutes

A woman, whose home was raided by the police mistaking it for her neighbour's house, has filed a constitutional case seeking redress.

34-year-old detention officer, Charlotte Casha, is suing the state and the Police Commissioner after a distressing police raid on her home. Her Court application describes how she had been asleep, topless in her bed, when four male officers broken down the front door of her penthouse at around 6am on 12 August 2024. 

After the officers, from the police Special Intervention Unit (SIU), forced their way into her residence, they entered her bedroom and, without explanation, pulled her from bed, turned her to face the wall, and restrained her hands with plastic ties before leading her into the living room. 

The bewildered woman who had been sleeping in a state of undress, was left topless in the presence of the male officers for 20 minutes until two senior officers, including a woman, arrived, instructing the team to release her and end the wrongful arrest.

Casha alleged that the officers failed to follow protocol by neither confirming her identity nor presenting an arrest warrant. She later discovered that the raid had targeted a different individual residing in the flat below hers. 

She subsequently filed a complaint with the police’s Professional Standards Unit, but her claim was dismissed, with officials maintaining that the officers had acted on "reasonable suspicion."

The woman described her experience as humiliating and deeply distressing, mentioning both the physical force used to enter her home and the disregard shown for her dignity. She claims, due to emotional and psychological distress, that the trauma from the incident led her to leave her job as a detention officer, where she worked with vulnerable detainees. 

Casha has taken her case to the constitutional courts, arguing that her rights to protection against arbitrary arrest and degrading treatment were violated. She is seeking damages for both financial and non-financial losses and requests further court measures to uphold her fundamental rights.

Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi, Jacob Magri and David Chetcuti Dimech signed the application.