Hunting lobby FKNK has said they are not hopeful for an apology from environmental NGO BirdLife Malta after a hunter’s licence ban was revoked earlier this week.
On Thursday, 28-year-old Brandon Said had his conviction for killing a protected bird overturned on appeal after a judge dismissed video evidence captured by the conservation group which allegedly showed him committing the crime.
Responding to the decision, the Federation for Hunting and Conservation - Malta (FKNK) said in a statement that “no one should hold their breath waiting for an apology from BirdLife Malta.”
Accusing the NGO of thinking themselves above the law, insulting and labelling hunters with “nasty adjectives” and being "deceptive", the federation said the group “do not accept the passions and socio-cultural traditions of Maltese and Gozitan hunters and trappers.”
In July, Said was fined €1,200 and had his hunting licence confiscated after BirdLife footage emerged which showed him picking up a bird and putting it to his mouth. Activists had claimed the bird was a protected Eurasian Collared-dove and that he had used his mouth to kill it.
But despite the first judge declaring the footage to be unequivocal evidence of wrongdoing, on Thursday Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera found it was not properly substantiated during proceedings.
The BirdLife volunteer who shot the video had never been asked to testify that the footage being exhibited in court was the same as that given to the police as evidence and was unable to identify Said as the person in the footage.
Scerri Herrera also observed that there was no evidence showing what species of bird had been killed and no carcass exhibited as evidence.
“The court does not feel that the prosecution has proven its case to the level required by the law, that is beyond reasonable doubt,” the judgement reads.
“The witness who testified on behalf of BirdLife based his assessment solely on the footage that was allegedly handed to him in the absence of the observance of the chain of evidence and this footage has been declared as having no value and is evidence on which the court cannot rest.”
The hunter was represented in court by Deborah Camilleri, who is the wife of Clint Camilleri, the minister responsible for hunting, planning and Gozo.
The incident happened on April 29, 2022, during the spring hunting season.