Man accused of Bidnija murder acquitted of separate road rage charges

The man accused of murdering Jean Paul Busuttiln in Bidnija has been acquitted of separate road rage charges from two years prior.

On Tuesday, the Court of Magistrates delivered judgment regarding charges against Mohamed Hamdan, arising from an incident which occurred in June 2023, only two years before he was charged with Jean Paul Busuttil’s murder.

Hamdan was charged with a number of offences stemming from a road rage incident, where he allegedly threatened, insulted and offended Joseph Busuttil, a Transport Malta official, as well as disobeying orders.

The court noted that the accused chose not to testify.

Joseph Busuttil, an operations manager with Transport Malta, testified that on 13 June 2023, an incident occurred involving coaches parked in Wied iż-Żurrieq, obstructing the road and preventing the passage of an ambulance.

Busuttil said that the coach drivers and the accused were cooperating at first, but a dispute arose later concerning the removal of a coach, leading to police intervention.

A few days later, at around 8am, Busuttil encountered the accused driving a coach in Marsa and signalled for the vehicle to stop. Upon noticing that minor school-children were on board, Busuttil urged the driver to proceed to drop off the children safely to school before any further discussion.

The accused allegedly refused to continue driving, stating that he did not trust Busuttil and demanded police presence.  Both parties later went to Marsa Police Station after the children were dropped off.

The TM official testified that he was insulted and disregarded by the accused, though he was unable to recall the exact words used. He also stated that he had requested body-camera footage from the police but that such footage was never produced.

The court held that, in these circumstances, the best possible evidence would have been the missing body-camera footage. Consequently, the court concluded that the standard of proof required in criminal proceedings, that proof beyond reasonable doubt, was not satisfied, and therefore the charges did not materialise.

The court further found that there was a conflict of evidence between witnesses, and that Hamdan was not informed of his right to remain silent, nor of his right to legal assistance before being questioned by the police. Hence, the prosecution failed to meet the required standard of proof for the charges.

In this regard, the court acquitted Hamdan from the charges brought against him in this case.

Magistrate Yana Micallef Stafrace presided over the sitting.

Lawyer Nicholas Mifsud represented Mohamed Hamdan.