Updated 7.20pm

Two brothers who assaulted police officers in Ħamrun last month were provoked, defence lawyers argued in court on Monday.

Lawyers representing brothers Kurt and Elton Borg and other defendants in the case said the police officers swore and mocked them in the run-up to the incident, even though their clients were answering respectfully and addressing officers as “sir”.

Using footage captured by one of the officers’ bodycams, defence lawyers highlighted the way in which one of the officers sarcastically told defendant Kurt Borg “Bloody hell, you’re such a good lawyer” [Ostja, kemm int avukat tajjeb”].

In testimony that had to be interrupted because he felt unwell, the officer in question confirmed that the word "ostja" might have "slipped out" but insisted it was an exclamation provoked by the brothers' behaviour.

Under a barrage of questions, he acknowledged that when Borg asked him "What are you saying?" [X'inti tgħid?] he had replied mockingly, by repeating those words back to him. 

The officer also admitted that one of the accused, Redeiman Aquilina, was tasered "by mistake". At that point, Aquilina was trying to break up the fight, he said.  

Bodycam footage  

Bodycam footage presented as evidence began with Borg saying “Speak to me with respect” [Kellimni bħan-nies], defence lawyers noted, implying a previous disrespectful comment by the officer.

The officer testified that he could not recall what he had said. That prompted complaints from the defence and led the magistrate to caution him about committing perjury. 

He denied addressing Borg as "bully" and insisted Borg was trying to undermine his authority and speaking in an arrogant tone. 

An inspector confirmed, under questioning from defence lawyer Franco Debono, that the officer in question had uttered the first vulgar word in the interaction [ostja].

She said she had filed a report about the incident with her superior. 

Borg is one of five people accused of assaulting the police officers. His brother Elton, sister-in-law Erica and associates Redeimen Aquilina and Christian Mansueto are the others.

The Borg brothers’ father, Anthony, is to be charged separately in relation to the incident, the court was told.

How officers described the incident

The Saturday night incident began at around 8.30pm, when officers prepared to issue a ticket for Borg’s illegally parked Honda, inspector Elisa Scicluna testified.

Scicluna was one of the first people to speak to the two police officers injured in the altercation.

She said one of the officers carried a firearm, pepper spray, taser and baton. The other had a baton, pepper spray, handcuffs and a machine to issue traffic contraventions.

The inspector said neither of the two had radios with them. She did not know why.

When testifying later in the hearing, police officer Clive Mallia said he had his radio with him that day but could not use it because its battery was flat. 

"That's my negligence," he acknowledged.  

When asked whether he was given training in crowd control, de-escalating tensions or dealing with the public, the officer gave a flat answer.

"No," he said. 

Inspector Scicluna testified that when she saw the officers at the Floriana health centre after the brawl, one was dizzy and unable to speak. The other said Borg and his brother, Elton Borg, approached the officers as they were issuing the contravention.

As things heated up, officers tried to arrest the brothers. Others gathered and the officers ended up outnumbered and attacked by a “mob”.

One of the police officers ended up with scratches and cuts to his neck and nose. The other suffered a nose fracture, doctors who treated them testified.

Bodycam still missing

One of the bodycams worn by the officers fell to the ground in the scuffle and has not been retrieved.

Mallia, the police officer who testified, said a woman at the scene handed it to him. He said he then gave it to his colleague. 

Police Inspector Scicluna told the court that video footage from a nearby bus shelter indicated that one of the accused, Kurt Borg, picked the bodycam up. It has not been found to date.

The other officer’s bodycam showed the entire incident, from start to finish. Eyewitness videos shared on social media and published by news outlets also shed light on the brawl.

Inspector Scicluna described those videos as showing Kurt Borg, in beige shorts and a black top, pulling one of the officers. Redeiman Aquilina, in jeans and running shoes, punched an officer from the back. When the officer turned, Elton Borg, wearing a black top and white shorts, slammed him to the ground.

Later, a man in a whitish top and running shoes joined the fray, punching an officer in the back of the head. When the officer tried to move away, the two scruffled and ended up on the floor. That man was Mansueto.

During the scuffle on the ground, a woman kicked the officer in his side and slapped him on the head. The woman, dressed all in black, was Erica Borg.

'I was not swearing,' officer testifies

Both the officers involved in the incident testified during Monday's sitting. 

One of the two, Clive Mallia, faced hours of cross-examination from defence lawyers. 

He denied speaking with any arrogant tone and said the Borg brothers seemed to be agitated and aggressive from the start.

Elton Borg had opened the car’s boot and told the officer to take a photo of the interior. 

“I told him that I was only issuing a ticket, not doing a search,” Mallia said.

After a warning by the magistrate, the officer conceded  that he had also told Elton Borg “that he was a good lawyer and perhaps the word ostja slipped out.”

“But I was not swearing at Elton or Kurt. It’s like when one exclaims “Madonna!”… they were interfering and I wanted to express my authority,” the police officer said. 

Elton Borg stamped on his foot and touched his shoulder. Kurt Borg held onto his colleague’s hand, Mallia recounted.

Then things got out of hand. Mallia said he was shoved to the floor. Kurt Borg stood over him, as others held him back. When the officer stood up, he was punched from behind and then slammed to the ground.

“My colleague took out pepper spray, shouting at the crowd to move back. ‘Are you crazy? Do you know what you’re doing?’ I told Elton,” Mallia recalled.

Police officers have quotas for tickets

The police officer repeatedly said he felt Borg was trying to ridicule him and undermine his authority. 

As defence lawyer Franco Debono pressured him, he admitted that officers are instructed to issue a minimum of 10 traffic tickets a month. 

"There's nothing official," he said, adding that quotas for localities like St Julian's are higher. 

'You don't touch me', officer recalls defendant saying

The other police officer involved, Aidan Demicoli, also testified, though cross-examination was reserved for a later date.

Demicoli recalled the incident in much the same way as his colleague. 

He said Elton Borg had punched his hand when tensions started rising, telling him "you don't touch me" [Lili ma tmissnix].

As a mob gathered, Demicoli said he drew his Taser and pointed it at Kurt Borg. He only used it once, he insisted. He then resorted to using pepper spray to keep assailants at bay, he said. 

Demicoli recalled one of the defendants, Mansueto, punching him. Another man, who was elderly, was punching him while biting his own hand, the witness recalled.

His bodycam fell twice in the commotion. Demicoli said he still doesn't know what happened to it. 

Suspects arrested

Using footage of the incident, police identified 10 people in the commotion. Some were trying to break up the fight. Throughout, the officers tried to get people to move back, using pepper spray to deter aggressors over and over, Inspector Scicluna testified.

The Borg brothers and Erica Borg were arrested at the scene. Mansueto was arrested at 12.17am at his Siġġiewi home.  Aquilina was arrested minutes later, at 12.22am at his mother’s home in Ħamrun. He asked for medical assistance and was taken to Mater Dei Hospital. The duty magistrate was informed at 12.32am.

Elton and Kurt Borg also asked for medical assistance and were certified as having slight injuries.

All five were denied bail when they were arraigned and pleaded not guilty to criminal charges last month.

Lawyers: This was a social media witchhunt 

On Monday, their lawyers argued they had been the victims of a social media witchhunt, fuelled by politicians who rushed to condemn them despite the Criminal Code expressly forbidding them from doing so.

The Prime Minister, Home Affairs Minister and the Opposition leader should not show that they are taking sides, even out of respect to courts, argued lawyer Franco Debono. 

Defence lawyers emphasised that the Borg brothers had been polite until one of the officers spoke rudely to them.

When one of the officers complained about Elton Borg touching him, Borg responded by exclaiming “My god, you take offence so easily” [Maria kemm tieħu għalik] and asked the officer to address him properly, a defence lawyer argued.

Police officer sought accused's phone number

One of the police officers involved in the incident, Mallia, testified that Redeimen Aquilina had initially been trying to break up the fight.

Aquilina ended up being tasered, he said. 

Under questioning from defence lawyer Mario Mifsud, the police officer confirmed that he had reached out to someone over Facebook to get Aquilina's phone number. 

"Do you have Baggio's number, because the poor guy ended up tasered by mistake," Mallia wrote. 'Baggio' is Aquilina's nickname. 

Mallia said he did not know who tasered Aquilina but confirmed he saw him with a Taser dart in his stomach at the scene. 

Under questioning, inspector Scicluna said she had informed her boss Superintendent Saviour Baldacchino of the officers’ behaviour.

Disciplinary proceedings have not started, she added.

Defence lawyer Matthew Xuereb also accused the police officers of indiscriminately using pepper spray on the group “as though it was an insect spray against cockroaches”.

They said vulnerable people who were not involved in the fight, including a septuagenarian, a person with multiple sclerosis and a pregnant woman, ended up caught in the commotion.

The inspector confirmed the three had nothing to do with the commotion but said they had “decided to enter the fray”.  None of the three filed a report requesting an investigation into the police’s behaviour, she added.

Defence lawyers also argued their clients had been arrested illegally, as they were not read their rights as they were being taken into custody.

Prosecutors rebutted by noting that the arrests had been declared valid at the arraignment stage. It was unrealistic to expect an officer to read a suspect their rights as they were fending off a mob beating, they added.

The case continues on Thursday.

The defendants were represented by lawyers Arthur Azzopardi, Franco Debono, Jacob Magri, Charles Mercieca, Mario Mifsud, Nicholas Mifsud, Alex Scerri Herrera and Matthew Xuereb.

AG lawyer Jennifer Polidano and Inspector Scicluna prosecuted. Lawyer Herman Mula appeared parte civile. Magistrate Monica Vella presided.