An ex footballer currently in preventive custody over fuel smuggling allegations, has been cleared of complicity in breaching fishing regulations in an incident dating back to 2014.
Darren Debono, was charged with conspiring to breach fishing laws, along with a Marsaxlokk fisherman and captain of Debono’s vessel, Maria Lourdes II after officials from the fisheries department flagged illegalities in a catch.
In June 2014, the Maria Lourdes II entered the Grand Harbour, docking in the area known as tas-Siment, following days at sea.
On board were 45 swordfish weighing 631 kilograms and 24 blue fin tuna, weighing 2205 kilograms. But when checking the captain’s log book, inspectors verified that the figures did not tally with the actual amounts caught.
The logs registered 30 swordfish at 466 kilograms and made no reference to the blue fin tuna, which was not covered by the vessel’s fishing licence.
Some of the fish species also fell below the minimum size in terms of conservation and management regulations. Debono was also charged with assisting his captain to unload the catch.
Although arraigned jointly, proceedings against the captain, Sammy Vella, continued separately and were concluded earlier this year. Vella registered a guilty plea last year, was fined €14,820 and the court ordered the confiscation of €12,382 - the price of the catch that was seized by fisheries department and sold at auction.
No evidence he was there
Magistrate Rachel Montebello, observed on Friday that there was no evidence that the accused was on board the vessel that day, nor proof that he was present when the boat sailed into port.
The only evidence linking Debono to the incident was a call he received earlier that day from the captain, telling him that he might not make it to Marsaxlokk harbour and asking him to dispatch a truck to take delivery of the fish.
In the call, the captain told Debono that the catch consisted of swordfish and tuna, but the call ended abruptly when the phone ran out of charge.
Evidence of the alleged conspiracy rested on that call, which took place when the fish had already been caught.
There was no evidence that Debono had issued instructions to his captain nor that he knew about the illegal quantities caught, the court ruled.
The captain’s statement, released when he was still co-accused, could not be used as evidence against Debono.
As for the accused’s own statement under interrogation, without the assistance of a lawyer, that evidence was not to be used against him and could only be considered in so far as it sought to justify his actions.
“By no stretch of the imagination” could that phone call and the fact that the accused may have dispatched a truck to port, be deemed as evidence of his complicity, concluded the court.
Lawyer Giannella DeMarco was defence counsel.