Police officers cleared of injuring motorist during his arrest

A court of Magistrates has exonerated the two police officers accused of beating up motorist Jean Paul Aquilina in 2015, ruling that “moderate and proportionate force” had been exercised during his arrest.

The decision comes just two weeks after the Constitutional court threw out a claim of human rights breaches during the internal investigation into one of the officers involved.

PC David Camilleri and PC Mark Tonna of the police's Rapid Intervention Unit (RIU) had been charged with slightly injuring Aquilina and committing a crime they were duty bound to prevent, after allegations of police brutality were made during Aquilina's arraignment for assaulting police officers who stopped him on suspicion of DUI. Magistrate Carol Peralta later cleared Aquilina of this charge.

Tonna had testified to having stopped the man's car after seeing it zig-zagging and found the driver holding a mobile phone to his ear and not wearing his seatbelt. Aquilina had no identification on him and had initially given the police the wrong ID card number, although he eventually got it right.

While he had been relaying the man's details over the radio, he saw Aquilina make a beeline for his colleague, blaspheming and saying “ Tell her I'm haqq Alla Jean Paul Aquilina from Mosta!”

Aquilina had then allegedly knocked off PC Camilleri's beret and pushed him. Tonna said he then got out of the car and found Aquilina trying to strangle his colleague. When he tried to stop the assault, Aquilina became aggressive towards him and tried to seize his service handgun.

Meanwhile Aquilina’s girlfriend Jasione Vassallo was insulting the officers and pulling them by their uniforms, alleging that they were beating her boyfriend up for nothing.

In a decision handed down yesterday, Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech said that several questions about Aquilina's account of how events took place on the day of his arrest remained unanswered.

Jasionne Vassallo, who had been a passenger in the car, had told the court that the officers had tried to strangle her boyfriend and that she had been afraid that he “would be killed right there, before my very eyes.” But the court noted that she had not explained how when police backup arrived they had not found Aquilina on the floor, but PC Camilleri, with Aquilina on top of him.

There was no medical evidence of Aquilina's face being pressed to the tarmac with a boot as he had claimed, noted the court. In fact, medical certificates showed that the injuries he sustained were superficial and had not required stitches. Had the beating taken place in the manner he described, Aquilina would have been severely injured and would have needed stitches. Likewise, no medical evidence of marks around Aquilina's neck as reported by one of his friends was seen. The injuries sustained by the police officers, however, were consistent with their account, said the court.

Officers had testified to Aquilina being enraged and threatening the officers that he didn't care about them being police officers and that he would “find them.”

RIU sergeant Kevin Camilleri had been dispatched to the incident and recalled finding Camilleri and Aquilina wrestling on the ground, with Tonna trying to separate them. “Now if he was pulling David from behind or in between them, I don't recall.” He described Aquilina as being angry, his face red “like he wasn't a normal human being.” Neither Camilleri, nor the accused officers, recalled smelling any alcohol on Aquilina's breath, the court observed. Camilleri said that the driver had bloodshot eyes, was grinding his teeth, shouting and arguing with the police.

He said he had handcuffed Aquilina and pulled him to his feet to stop him kicking at the police officers.

PC David Camilleri's account was corroborated by that of the RIU sergeant and PC Kurt Gauci who had been in one of the police cars.

The court noted that it was very relevant that Aquilina had immediately got out of the car before the police could even ascertain his identity. Tonna had said he opened the door and sprinted towards the officer radioing in his details. “As he was foaming at the mouth with rage at the time, I don't think he was going there to shake his hand.” He had been hit in the face by Aquilina as soon as he approached, he said.

The testimony tendered by the Vassallo family was contradicted by police testimony. “Whilst members of the Vassallo family testify that Camilleri had owned up to them that he had beaten Aquilina, so much so that he had been proud of his actions, Sergeant Camilleri did not mention any such confirmation, to the contrary insisting that he had ordered Camilleri to tell him his service number.” Jason Vassallo, father of Aquilina's girlfriend had denied “with great certainty” that Camilleri's shirt had been torn.

Magistrate Frendo Dimech asked why Aquilina had felt the need to get out of the car and why there were dents on the side of the police car when Aquilina was claiming to have been attacked near his own vehicle.

“Furthermore, if Camilleri had attacked the motorist, why did PC Tonna need to call for assistance?” the court asked, noting that the RIU officers who responded had seen Camilleri being attacked and not Aquilina.

It also noted that Aquilina was taken to hospital suffering from bruises on his nose and under his eyes. “An intentional punch would have left far greater injuries, much more several punches and kicks as Aquilina and Vassallo are claiming.” It noted that medical certificates showed that Camilleri suffered abrasions on the side and back of his neck and forehead, whilst Tonna had suffered an injury after being elbowed in the eye by the driver.

The court observed that Jasione Vassallo and Jean Paul Aquilina had “conveniently failed to explain how Aquilina ended up next to the police car, how the accused incurred the injuries they suffered, how Camilleri's shirt ended up being torn and how Camilleri and Aquilina ended up rolling around on the road.

Aquilina's girlfriend had denied that he had offered any form of resistence and insisted that Camilleri had been doing all the punching and kicking. No certificate of medical examination confirmed this, rather they gave the lie to her version, said the court.

The testimony of several officers showed without any doubt that Aquilina had demonstrated no respect for the law or those entrusted with enforcing it.

“The court believes that Camilleri was identified as the aggressor because he had made the most effort to stop and resist Aquilina. He didn't shy away from the confrontation that Aquilina led him to. He didn't think twice to take the measures that he believed to be opportune to prevent the danger he perceived his colleague as being in.

It observed that the prosecution had carried out its duties correctly, saying that the police had used moderate and proportionate force to enforce the law and “could not but clear the accused of all the charges against them.”