The father of Nicholas Azzopardi, who died while in police custody, feels that the Attorney General’s decision to allow the same magistrate to conduct a second inquiry into the incident is a waste of time.
“I’ve already said there should be an independent inquiry. I’m objecting even more now that I heard that (Magistrate) Anthony Vella, who carried out the original inquiry, will be carrying out the new one,” said Joseph Azzopardi, whose son died in April 2008.
“According to the Attorney General, the magistrate is meant to look into whether there were any developments beyond the conclusions he had reached.
“This already means that, for him (the magistrate), what is in the first inquiry is fact,” Mr Azzopardi said adding: “This is stupid... We are going from the frying pan into the fire.”
Attorney General Peter Grech has accepted a request by the Police Commissioner to reopen the magisterial inquiry into the fatal fall.
Before he died, on April 22, 2008, Mr Azzopardi had alleged that he had been brutally beaten while in police custody and was then thrown over the bastion at the headquarters in Floriana.
He was being investigated over allegations by his wife that he had sexually abused their daughter.
Magistrate Vella had found that all the evidence corroborated the version given by the police that Mr Azzopardi had leapt off the bastion.
He had also declared that, if the evidence submitted by the police were discarded, all the other evidence – together with the medical, forensic and mobile phone reports exhibited and the facts – corroborated the version given by the police.
The inquiry had established through CCTV footage and different testimonies that just before Mr Azzopardi jumped, Adrian Lia, then a police sergeant, had momentarily left his side to inform his superiors that the man’s wife was in the waiting room.
The procès-verbal had established that Mr Lia returned to join Mr Azzopardi and PC Reuben Zammit. As Mr Lia was about to turn the corner, he called out “Rueben” and then spotted Mr Azzopardi jumping over the wall.
The case resurfaced after Mr Lia, who has since resigned from the force, was arraigned on charges of theft of about €30,000 from the police headquarters.
The Attorney General said that Magistrate Vella will “see whether the new facts that have come to light have any bearing on his original conclusions”.
Joseph Azzopardi fears the magistrate is bound to repeat mistakes he made the first time round. He said the inquiry focused too much on his son’s role in the incident but failed to thoroughly examine the role of the police and his son’s wife.
He is insisting that the inquiry be carried out by an independent person or group.
“I want an independent person who does not answer to the Attorney General or to the government... My son should have never been hurt while in police custody, meant to be the safest place to be,” he said.
TIME LINE OF EVENTS *
April 8, 2008
2.30 p.m. Vice squad police inspector Graziella Muscat and a social worker turn up outside Mr Azzopardi’s residence in Fgura following allegations by both the father (Mr Azzopardi) and the mother regarding a daughter, aged seven, and a three-year-old son. Mr Azzopardi accused the mother of physical abuse and negligence while the mother alleged that Mr Azzopardi had touched his daughter’s private parts.
3.07 p.m. CCTV footage shows Mr Azzopardi entering the police headquarters in Floriana, holding his daughter’s hand, in the presence of the social worker and the police inspector.
6.15 p.m. Mr Azzopardi joins policemen to search his Fgura residence.
7.30 p.m. Mr Azzopardi is escorted back to the police headquarters.
9 p.m. Mr Azzopardi is put in lock-up 113.
9.50 p.m. Mr Azzopardi complains of chest pains and is taken to Mater Dei Hospital. He is examined and later discharges himself.
April 9, 2008
3.15 a.m. Mr Azzopardi is back in the lock-up at the police headquarters.
3.50 a.m. Mr Azzopardi again complains of chest pains and is once again escorted to hospital. A chest X-ray is taken. He again discharges himself.
9 a.m. Mr Azzopardi is put in another cell – this time in lock-up 103 – especially built for those who suffer from claustrophobia.
11.30 a.m. Mr Azzopardi is taken out of his cell for questioning by Inspector Muscat. He releases a six-page statement denying charges.
5.53 p.m. CCTV footage shows Mr Azzopardi emerging in the police yard, escorted by PS Adrian Lia and PC Rueben Zammit, to search his car and later take his fingerprints. PS Lia realises that Mrs Azzopardi and her mother are in the waiting room at the entrance to the depot and instructs PC Zammit and Mr Azzopardi to remain in the yard.
5.56 p.m. PC Zammit and Mr Azzopardi move towards the back of the yard. CCTV footage shows Mr Azzopardi walking freely. He is also seen peering over the four-foot wall. PS Lia goes inside to ask Inspector Muscat to escort Mrs Azzopardi and her mother to the office.
5.58 p.m. The procès-verbal established from testimony that PS Lia returns to join the two. As he is about to turn the corner he calls out “Rueben” and spots Mr Azzopardi jumping onto the wall. PC Zammit dashes to try and stop him. Mr Azzopardi struggles to escape. Before letting go, Mr Azzopardi utters the words: “Why sir?”
5.59 p.m. PS Lia and another officer rush to the spot where Mr Azzopardi landed.
6.22 p.m. CCTV footage shows an ambulance driving onto the spot. Mr Azzopardi is in a coma.
April 18, 2008
Mr Azzopardi regains consciousness and alleges that he was beaten by the police when in custody.
April 22, 2008
Mr Azzopardi is transferred from intensive care to the Orthopaedic Ward. The magistrate turns up at the hospital to question him for 90 minutes in the presence of a court expert and Mr Azzopardi reaffirms the allegations.
10.40 p.m. Mr Azzopardi collapses and suffers cardiac arrest. Attempts to resuscitate him fail.
11.15 p.m. Mr Azzopardi is pronounced dead. The autopsy establishes he died from “saddle pulmonary embolus” following deep vein thrombosis.
*Parts of a chronological account put together from Magistrate Vella’s first inquiry report as published in The Times on August 20, 2008.