Suspended sentence for policeman who resisted arrest

A court of Magistrates handed down a suspended sentence to an ALE police officer today, after he was found guilty of resisting arrest and disturbing the public peace in an incident that took place in December 2011.

In the same verdict the court found him not guilty of indecently assaulting two foreign girls.

The 2011 incident took place in a club in Paceville, where an argument broke out between security personnel at Hugo’s Bar and 25-year-old police official Carl Vella, who was off duty at the time.

Two women, Simone Brauener and Stanislava Dobrovolna, accused Vella of harassing and inappropriately touching them while they were dancing. Security at the club had asked him to leave and an argument broke out.

Vella was arrested and taken to the Floriana lockup, where he admitted to flirting with the two girls by trying to dance with them but denied touching them inappropriately or that they had asked him to leave them alone.

Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras heard Brauener testify that a man had grabbed her from behind and put his hand “between her thighs”, adding that when she moved away, he followed and also tried to touch her friend. As they left the bar, Brauener alleged that the man approached her again, this time touching her face.

Dobrolovna told the court that she was dancing with her friend when a man approached and attempted to dance with Brauener, but that they had refused. Dobrolovna said that she did not see anything untoward happen between the man and Brauener saying that “the only thing he did was ask her to dance with him and touched her hand and shoulder.”

Neither of the girls recognized Vella in court.

Superintendent Stephen Gatt testified that although CCTV footage showed the accused acting as though under the influence of alcohol, it did not show him committing the acts described by Brauener.

Inspector Luke Bonello also confirmed to the court that when he interviewed the two girls and showed the accused to them they, had said that he was not the molestor.

Sergeant Terry James Mallia and Police Constables Anthony Zammit and David Mizzi told the court that when they were called to the scene, Vella tried to kick Mallia and resisted arrest, accusing them of being corrupt.

Magistrate Galea Sciberras remarked that although she found Vella not guilty of molesting the two girls, he resisted arrest, a crime that he, as a member of the Police force, was duty bound to prevent.

Vella was handed a sentence of six months imprisonment, suspended for 18.