A 17-year-old boy was on Thursday charged with beating up a fellow inmate at the Centre of Residential Restorative Services in Mtaħleb after the court heard of a dramatic incident while he was in police custody. 

The teen, who cannot be named by court order, was charged with grievously injuring a fellow inmate at CoRRs, breaching three different sets of bail conditions currently imposed upon him as well as assaulting and insulting police officers. 

He pleaded not guilty to the charges. 

Police inspector Godwin Scerri told the court that the Mosta police station had received a report from the CoRRs facility on December 20. According to the report, two inmates got into a scrap, resulting in one of them being grievously injured. 

When he arrived on site, he reviewed CCTV footage of the incident and was able to identify the accused as the one responsible for the alleged victim’s injuries. 

He obtained an arrest warrant and returned to apprehend the youth at the facility the next day. 

Scerri said that while the car ride between Mtaħleb and the police station in Mosta was uneventful, upon their arrival “all hell broke loose” and the accused started kicking and screaming.

The youth threatened to slam his head against the wall and kill himself unless officers removed his handcuffs and while Scerri had moved him to his office, his attempts to calm him down were unsuccessful. 

At one point, the inspector said the teen ran at full speed towards his window and “tried to commit suicide”. He was intercepted by one of the escorting police officers who was also present trying to calm him down. 

“He saved his life,” Scerri said, turning to look the accused in the eye, explaining that the drop from his third-storey window would have surely been fatal.

The youth was taken to Mater Dei Hospital and later treated at Mount Carmel Hospital.

Following questioning from the defence, Scerri said he was made aware that in the days following the incident, the teen had filed two police reports with child protection services, claiming that police officers had beaten him up close to Mount Carmel. 

No request for bail was made and the boy was sent back to the CoRRs facility. 

Police inspector Godwin Scerri and AG lawyer Valentina Cassar prosecuted. 

Lawyer Nicholas Mifsud appeared for the accused.