Detention Services officer tells court Nwokoye not beaten upon recapture

Ifeanyi Nwokoye, the Nigerian detainee who died following his recapture after an escape attempt from the Ħal Far detention centre in April 2011, was not beaten upon his recapture, a court heard this morning.

Detention services officer Anthony Zammit testified as part of the compilation of evidence against Roderick Azzopardi, Aldo Simiana and Carmen Camilleri who were charged with the involuntary homicide of 29-year-old Nwokoye.

The court heard how Lance Bombardiers Simiana and Camilleri were on guard outside the Nigerian’s isolation cell. The practice was to isolate detainees who had made escape attempts.

Nwokoye had escaped the Safi detention centre, along with six other detainees during the night of the 16 April, 2011. He and one other escapee were recaptured that same night.

Zammit told the court that he was on guard duty that night, when he assisted three colleagues who were attempting to subdue Nwokoye until the duty officer’s arrival.

He said that Lieutenant (now Captain) Azzopardi, who was the duty officer responsible for all detention centres at the time of the incident, had restrained Nwokoye and handcuffed him. At that point, someone pointed out that a piece of metal was in the detainee’s pocket.

Zammit said that while Lt Azzopardi confronted Nwokoye over the metal object, he “did not see him punching or kicking Nwokoye.”

Cross-examined by lawyer Veronique Dalli, Zammit said that the metal object was a bar that was probably part of one of the detention centre’s beds. He stressed that while Lt Azzopardi retained the object, he did not strike Nwokoye with it, saying that the only contact Azzopardi had with Nwokoye was while he was restraining him.

L/Bdr Martin Blundell told the court that as he was opening the gate to begin his guard duties, he was violently pushed against a wall, suffering a cut to his head requiring several stitches. This was the moment that the six men escaped, he said. A number of his colleagues gave chase.

Blundell explained how L/Bdr Roderick Vassallo and L/Bdr Gordon Pickard arrived shortly after in a van. They had asked Blundell whether he could wait for the recaptured detainees to be taken to Ħal Far before they could get him treatment and Blundell had agreed.

He claimed not to have seen the recaptured detainees at any point because the van was separated into two isolated compartments.

He confirmed that of the several escapes that had occurred while he was on duty over the years, to his knowledge, this was the only one in which a guard sustained an injury.

He attributed the rate of escapes from detention, which he said had reached two escapes in a single month at one point, was "not helped" by staff shortages.