Police set to appeal acquittal over black stork shooting
Ryan Bonnici had been accused of targeting the bird at Żebbiegħ two years ago
Environmental police will appeal after a hunter was cleared of having shot a protected black stork.
Ryan Bonnici, 34 of Gżira, had been accused of shooting the bird at Żebbiegħ two years ago.
Police had found a loaded modified firearm hidden behind the back seat of his car in Għargħur. Bonnici later pleaded not guilty to nine charges stemming from the incident.
However, six of those charges were later withdrawn by the prosecution, with Bonnici only being accused of possession of an unlicensed Beretta shotgun, unauthorised modifications to the weapon, failing to properly store the weapon and not abiding by the licence conditions.
Although the prosecution and defence reached an agreement over the charges, it appears that the accused entered his plea before prosecutors had submitted all their evidence.
When delivering judgment, Magistrate Elaine Mercieca in turn cleared Bonnici of the remaining charges.
The magistrate argued that without the evidence, the court could not know whether or not the accused had any licences in terms of law and if so, in respect of which weapons.
As for failing to properly store the shotgun, the court observed that possession of that weapon could possibly have been illegal, depending on the relative licence, evidence of which was not produced. Prosecutors from the police’s Environment Protection Unit yesterday registered their intention to appeal the decision.
Lawyers Edward Gatt and Ishmael Psaila are defence counsel to Bonnici.