A suspected poacher charged with shooting flamingos over Qawra point told police that he was aiming at a duck which he never managed to retrieve from the sea. 

Miguel Zammit, 23, categorically denied shooting at the protected birds, which he claimed to have observed as the flock of five flew towards Mellieħa on the morning of October 2. 

Zammit, a hunter, was caught and arrested after an eyewitness saw four flamingos being shot out of the sky.

Birdwatcher Caldon Mercieca was scouring the area through his binoculars on that rainy Saturday morning. He spotted Zammit on the islet off Qawra point shortly before he heard gunshots and saw the four protected birds fall from the sky. 

He then quickly raised the alert. 

Within minutes, Birdlife conservation manager Nicholas Barbara reached the area and found a vantage point that gave him a good view of the islet.

He switched on his camera and noticed a “head” bobbing in the waters, Barbara said when testifying in court. 

That was 7:45am and as he continued to film through the pouring rain, he dialled the police.

Some ten minutes later, a bare-chested dark man, with a shaved head and two distinctive tattoo sleeves, was spotted on the islet.

It was Zammit, said the witness, adding that the hunter was a familiar face in that Qawra area, which Birdlife officials frequently monitored to track bird migration and keep an eye out for illegal hunting. 

The man was talking on a mobile phone, “pacing up and down, evidently agitated,” recalled Barbara.

As he continued to film those crucial moments, he spotted “something white” in Zammit’s hands and saw the hunter crouch low, seemingly dragging something. 

After momentarily losing sight Zammit, he reappeared carrying a shotgun and cartridges, said the Birdlife officer who presented all the footage as evidence.

“He [Zammit] was the only one on the islet,” replied Barbara under cross-examination by defence lawyer Alex Miruzzi. 

A sergeant from the Qawra police station also testified. He was also at the Fra Ben area when officers looking for the suspected poacher spotted a bare-chested man in shorts, with a shaved head, at around 8.30. The man was later identified as the accused.

The suspect was carrying a Benelli shotgun, ammunition and a bag as he headed towards a Toyota vehicle parked in the vicinity.

He denied shooting at the flamingos and insisted that he had only shot at a duck which, however, he had not managed to retrieve from the sea. 

Under further questioning, the hunter told police that at the time of the alleged incident there was a “white boat” in the area. But he supplied no further details along those lines. 

Call logs from Zammit’s mobile phone registered 14 incoming, outgoing and missed calls in a 45-minute span around the time of the incident, prosecuting Inspector Elliott Magro told the court.  

Under cross-examination, the inspector also confirmed that the shotgun was registered in Zammit’s name and had not been altered in any manner. 

At the time of the incident, the police had said in a statement that three of the dead birds were found at sea, with a fourth discovered on the shore nearby. 

But a court this week only heard of three such birds. 

Three flamingo carcasses were retrieved by an AFM dinghy after being spotted floating at sea in the direction of Xemxija. Later that day, the dead birds were examined and x-rayed by a veterinary surgeon who confirmed that they had died of shotgun injuries.

Eurydike Kovacs testified about her findings, exhibiting images of the two adult and one juvenile flamingos, bearing shotgun wounds and pellets and covered in blood when taken to her clinic by the police. 

The birds did not have any markings or microchips indicating that they were captive-bred, said ERA enforcement team manager Stanley Gatt.

The younger bird was under ten months old, while the other two were over 30 months old. 

Another hunter who was in the Fra Ben area early that morning told the court that he was sitting in his van when a police officer had opened the door and ordered him out of the vehicle. 

Paul Cauchi said that his hunting plans had been disrupted by the poor weather and that he had not left his van between 5.30am and the time that the police had showed up. 

“I did not have a single drop of water on me, as the police know very well,” he testified. Cauchi said that he had not seen any other hunter or birdwatcher in the area.

“It was raining hard and there was lightning,” the witness explained.

The case continues.

The court is presided over by Magistrate Elaine Mercieca Rizzo.Inspector Elliott Magro prosecuted.