A man who allegedly broke into a private residence in the middle of the night, threatening a woman he claimed had stolen €1000 worth of cocaine from him, was released from custody on Tuesday after his arrest was declared invalid.

The incident allegedly took place in the early hours of Monday when 39-year old Reno Azzopardi of Cospicua, entered a private residence in his hometown where the victim was apparently staying with her friend.

Azzopardi, allegedly armed with a penknife, confronted the woman and told her and her friend that other people were on their tracks.

The man was arrested shortly after.

On Tuesday he was escorted to court, charged with threatening his alleged victims, unlicenced possession of a firearm, carrying a penknife without the necessary police licence, breaking into a private residence as well as making insults and threats beyond the limits of provocation.

He was also charged with relapsing.

But before the charges were read out, the accused’s lawyer, Franco Debono, contested the validity of the arrest.

Questions were put to the prosecutor to determine the time of the arrest and whether that arrest was notified to the duty magistrate within the six-hour limit in terms of law.

Inspector Gabriel Kitcher explained that the accused had been arrested “at around 5am” on Monday, shortly after the incident.

The magistrate on duty at the time was notified about the arrest “at around 11am.”

The Criminal Code states that “Where any person is arrested, whether with or without a warrant, the arresting police officer or his superior shall, as soon as practicable and unless the person arrested has been released within six hours from arrest, inform a magistrate, giving all details as to time and place where the person is being held.”

In this case, it was doubtful whether that six-hour time limit had been observed, argued Debono, suggesting that in future, it would be advisable for the time of arrest to be indicated on the relative warrant.

The prosecutor insisted that he had called the duty magistrate “within the 6-hour time limit.”

However, presiding Magistrate Leonard Caruana declared that the certainty called for by that legal provision had not been proved in this case.

The validity of the arrest was not confirmed and the accused was thus released from preventive arrest.

The case will continue in the same manner as though the accused had been charged under summons.

When asked for his personal details, the accused chose not to reply.

There was only one question he answered and that was to state that he was pleading “not guilty.”

The court upheld the prosecution’s request for a protection order in favour of the alleged victims and also a request for a ban on their names.