A Rapid Intervention Unit officer told a court on Friday how officers were outnumbered when they tried to control a group of migrants who attempted to escape from the Safi Detention centre last month. 

He said officers had exhausted all their ammunition of rubber bullets and had radioed for more as they felt they were losing control of the situation, PC Daniel Debattista told Magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo. 

He was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Darren Bonello, 30, from St Paul's Bay, who stands accused with the attempted murder of a migrant at whom he fired two shots.

Bonello, who was granted bail at the first hearing a few days after the incident, is denying the attempted murder of Abdulrahman Abdullah Hamza at around 2.30am on September 18, slightly injuring him, carrying an unlicensed Bennelli weapon, breaching the conditions of his firearms licence, being in possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime and working as a security guard without a licence.

PC Debattista said he stopped at the headquarters to get more ammunition before proceeding on site where he found eight to 10 other officers trying to control a situation which seemed impossible to control. 

He said he did not see Bonello firing any shots but recalls having been approached by the accused who offered him a cartridge with lead bullets when he realised that the officers’ ammunition had finished.

He refused the offer when he realised they were lead pellets, telling him that they only use rubber bullets in such cases. He said, however, that if the situation escalated, they would have been constrained to use the remaining ammunition they had. 

Debattista said that during the incident, he was hit in the face with a stone and had to be taken to hospital for treatment. 

His account was corroborated by an officer stationed at the Żejtun police station who was told to go to Safi to help control the situation as the officers there were outnumbered. 

Police sergeant Aaron Caruana said he arrived on scene and all he had was pepper spray and handcuffs. He was given more equipment by detention officers to shield himself from items being thrown at the police. 

He said he searched and found the accused and found the weapon on the back seat of his car, along with 39 unspent cartridges.

A doctor from Mater Dei Hospital, Winston Bartolo examined Hamza who had injuries all over his body. An X-ray revealed that he had lead pellets in various parts of his body, including his arms, legs and abdomen. 

At the end of the sitting, the court found that there was enough evidence for Bonello to be indicted. 

Police Inspector Jannetta Grixti prosecuted. Lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia were defence counsel.