A man described in court on Thursday how he was bundled into a police car, handcuffed, taken to a dark place “away from the highway” and beaten by four officers as he lay on the ground.

Ahmed Ali Abduwili was testifying against constables Rica Mifsud Grech, 22, Luca Brincat, 20 and Jurgen Falzon, 24, who stand accused of abducting and assaulting foreign nationals at least on three occasions.

But the Somali witness insisted that on the night when he was beaten up, there were four officers, not three.

“Are you sure?” Magistrate Joseph Mifsud asked in light of this revelation.

“Yes I remember 100%,” replied the young man, neatly dressed in a black jacket, buttoned-up white shirt and yellowish scarf.

“They started to beat me. The three of them. And another one. They were four.”

“So for now it’s a mystery person,” the magistrate remarked.

Asked about the events of that night,  Abduwili explained how earlier that day- he could not confirm the date - he got into trouble after entering a shop in Marsa, asking the owner for two euros.

The shopkeeper, although willing to give him food, refused to hand him cash.

As he walked out of the shop, there was an incident involving a broken glass pane.

That was when the police were called.

He was taken to Ħamrun police station and after some formalities, he was handed a paper, signed by one of the accused, who was referred to as an “inspector” by a female constable.

“It was that one,” Abduwili said, indicating Falzon as the officer who had signed the paper.

He was told that there would be a court case over the shop incident.

Officers had warned they would 'beat him up'

Brincat and Falzon, both of whom he identified in court, told him to go home, and stay away from Marsa. He was warned that if they found him there they would beat him up.

“If I tell you that Brincat was not present at the time, could it be someone else?” asked defence lawyer Franco Debono.

“No, he was in front of me,” insisted  Abduwili.

He said he bought some wine and headed to the Qormi parking area to sleep.

Later in the evening, an argument broke out and a man beat up a woman.

The police soon turned up, “the lady and the two men,” he added, indicating the co-accused seated at the dock.

When they spotted him, they said, “it’s him” and hauled him into the police car.

One of them, “I don’t remember his face,” asked, “where do we go now? 

After that, the car was driven “out into the countryside,” some distance away from the “highway”. He was taken out of the vehicle, pushed onto the ground while still handcuffed and kicked in the head.

One of them said, “close the camera,” added the witness, with reference to the police bodycam which was allegedly left inside the car.

“I was kicked with shoes on the head and then left there,” he recalled.

When he got up and saw car lights at a distance, he walked in that direction until he got to the “highway,” and stood in the middle of the road.

He then came across another police car and was taken to Ħamrun police station.

Police initially thought description of events was 'crazy'

By that time, the accused officers left and the officers there thought that what he had described as happening to him was “crazy.” 

He was taken to Mater Dei hospital.

The man also explained that “a million times” he had tried filing reports whenever he had some brushes with third parties, but no one would take his reports because he had a treatment order.

Asked about the fourth ‘mystery’ aggressor, he insisted that he was familiar with all the officers at the Ħamrun station and that officer was not among the three co-accused.

He admitted that during the beating that night, the police torches were flashed in his face, making it impossible for him to tell whether it was “this one or the other.”

Yet, he insisted that all of them were involved in the aggression.

Under cross-examination by Debono, the man said the treatment order was “for the problems of [his] life.”

He was homeless, took drugs and got drunk.

Witness admits he became violent when drunk 

Asked whether he was ever violent with staff in hospital or at the clinic, the man said he got violent only when drunk, and wanted to go back to his country.

“All my life I’m homeless. I’m responsible for my life. How they talk to me I talk to them. If you are police, social worker or whatever you are not family. If you show me respect, I show respect. But they tell me ‘this one is crazy,”

He denied carrying any scissors or knife on the night of the beating.

Falzon’s lawyer, Edmond Cuschieri asked about the first incident over the broken glass.

“What if I tell you that Falzon was not there [at the police station]?”

But the witness insisted, “he was there, he was the one who signed the paper for me to go out of police station... Me at the police station I know them. That’s where I go to file reports.”

The last question was put by Mifsud Grech’s lawyer.

“You said that on the way to Qormi in the car you were accompanied by three men and a woman. One of them is not here and that one also beat you?”

“Yes,” came the firm reply.

Earlier in Thursday's hearing, psychiatrist Joseph Cassar testified via video call, that Abduwili had a problem when he mixed drugs and alcohol.

That was when the man became violent and psychotic. He was well when he took his prescribed medication.

It appeared that the patient was not keeping his appointments at the mental health clinic.

“If he goes on like this, he will end up at Mount Carmel before going back to Somalia.”

Asked by Debono, Cassar confirmed that when drunk and under the influence of illicit substances the patient was “dangerous.”

On the day of the incident, the man had admitted that he had drunk wine and he still took cannabis.

However, he was pronounced fit to testify on Thursday.

Magistrate Joseph Mifsud was informed that the witness is expected to return to his homeland later this month.

The case continues.

Lawyers Dean Hili is also assisting Rica and Francesca Zarb is also assisting Brincat. 

Inspectors Joseph Mercieca and Omar Zammit prosecuted, assisted by AG lawyer Anthony Vella.