Toornstra prison warders sentence reduced on appeal

A court of appeal has significantly reduced the prison sentence handed down to a former prison guard, who is convicted of beating up an inmate for attempting to escape.

Francis Meli was one of four former guards who were found guilty of beating up Perry Ingomar Toornstra, a Dutch inmate who had been recaptured after briefly escaping from officers escorting him on home leave in August 2008.

Francis Debono, 41 from Safi, and Francis Meli, 38 from Birzebbuga, were sentenced to five years and three months in jail. Daniel Cuschieri, 27 from Paola and George Falzon, 23 from Qormi received five year jail terms.

Toornstra, who is serving a 15-year jail term for drug trafficking- to which a further nine months were added for the escape attempt - suffered a broken arm and broken ribs in a beating at the hands of the four accused men. The beating was captured on a CCTV camera.

In September 2010, Toornstra was charged with attacking the prison warders, but he was acquitted after the presiding magistrate held that the warders’ version of events was not credible.

Toornstra’s fractured rib and boot marks to his body were not compatible with resisting arrest, a court expert had reported.

The Court of Appeal heard defence lawyers Joe Giglio, Anthony Azzopardi and Stephen Tonna Lowell attack the credibility of Toornstra’s version of events. The lawyers argued that the expert’s report had not been impartial and was based on superficial examination of the injuries.

The defence described the force used against Toornstra as ‘reasonable,’ pointing to the testimony of two police officers who had described themselves as being ‘completely drained’ by their efforts to control the accused.

The court was told that Toornstra had not specified who had caused his broken rib. During his testimony, the man had claimed to have been attacked by six police officers.

The Court of Appeal upheld the defence’s arguments, saying that the men’s treatment of Toornstra could not be construed as torture and their allowing of Toornstra to open the rear window of the police car, could not be considered a “grievous imprudence” on the part of Meli.

Meli’s sentence was reformed to six months in prison suspended for two years.