A man who allegedly went on a vehicle jacking spree in Marsascala ended up in a violent confrontation with police officers after they tracked him down to a mental health hospital and tried to arrest him.
Keane Gafà, 20, was arraigned in front of Magistrate Victor George Axiak on Friday, accused of stealing five motorcycles, violently resisting arrest and breaching previous bail conditions imposed on him by another court a month ago.
He is denying the charges.
Police inspector Jeffrey Scicluna explained that he had been investigating a string of thefts of Kymco motorcycles from around Marsascala, making a break in the case when police got a hold of CCTV footage which clearly showed the accused’s face.
Additional footage showed Gafà, at the time unknown to the police, entering a hotel wearing the same clothes as in the first footage and the hotel employees were able to positively identify Gafà to the police.
After obtaining a warrant, police tracked down Gafà to Mount Carmel Hospital two days ago and tried to arrest him, which is when things got violent, Scicluna continued.
“He bit one police officer and poked another one in the eye when we were trying to arrest him. When we took him to the depot in Floriana for questioning, he remained aggressive, spitting blood and threatening to kill our families,” he said.
“We had to restrain him, using as little force as possible and called the RIU for backup.”
Gafà was transported to Mater Dei Hospital and subsequently to Mount Carmel again where he remained.
The prosecution objected to a request for bail, saying there was a credible fear that Gafà could interfere with the testimony of civilian witnesses.
Furthermore, in light of his violent behaviour, the serious nature of the crimes and the charge of having breached a previous bail condition, the defence argued that it was not satisfied that Gafà could uphold bail conditions if granted to him.
Appearing for Gafà, lawyer George Anton Buttigieg rebutted that denial of bail should be an exception and not the rule, citing case law to indicate that the accused does not have to prove anything to the court other than that he is currently being held under arrest.
If the prosecution claims that there are fears he could tamper with evidence or commit another crime, it would be up to them to satisfy the burden of proof to these claims.
“Until then they are only allegations of which my client is presumed innocent,” he said.
Buttigieg also alleged that there is evidence that his client was mistreated by the police while he was in custody.
“The only thing I'm going to say is that the inspector himself said that he was spitting blood when they arrested him. If he was spitting blood, it didn’t get there by itself, if we’re going to get into the merit of the violence, we need to consider the certified injuries from both sides,” he added.
Ultimately the court decided against granting bail, with Axiak saying that due to the nature of the accused’s behaviour, the court could not be satisfied that Gafà could satisfy bail conditions.
He included a recommendation to prison authorities to allow Gafà to be held in preventive custody at the forensic unit at Mount Carmel.
AG lawyer Shelby Aquilina prosecuted. Lawyer Vincienne Vella also appeared for Gafà.