'I want to hug you,' wrongly-accused tourist in Paceville brawl tells magistrate

A 19-year-old tourist, who spent almost seven months under preventive custody, told a magistrate she “wished to hug her” and expressed her gratitude for finally “seeing things as they really were and believed her” before bursting into tears.

Katherin Vanessa Torres Castano, a Colombian national, was cleared of slightly injuring a police constable after it emerged that it had been her sister who had punched the constable. 

The magistrate presiding over the case decried "a miscarriage of justice" and sent her judgment to the Police Commissioner to see if any action should be taken against officers, after they accused the wrong alleged perpetrator and presented selective footage to court.

Torres Castano had been arraigned in July and has since been kept in custody away from her daughter.

She was accused of violently resisting Police Constable Alessia Bonello, threatening and insulting the constable, as well as causing her slight injuries.

She was further charged with failing to obey legitimate police orders, voluntarily breaching the public peace and being drunk in public.

The woman denied the charges.

The woman, along with her friend, Maribel Piedrahita Serna, had landed in the dock after the police intervened during a verbal argument between the pair and a bouncer at a Paceville club.

Upon their arraignment, Piedrahita Serna had admitted to the charges while Torres Castano maintained her innocence.

What happened on the night

In court it emerged that three women were involved in the argument with the bouncer, and the police intervened after Piedrahita Serna, who was wearing grey, gave the middle finger to the police.

Torres Castano was wearing a red dress and a dainty necklace on the night, while her sister was wearing a black dress and a thick chain.

The police arrested Piedrahita Serna and escorted her to the police van while the other two women followed the police.

Bonello testified that Piedrahita Serna gave her the finger and told her “f*** you” outside Clique. Three officers went to arrest the woman for insulting the police. She testified that two other women, including the accused, obstructed the police and screamed at the officers to leave Piedrahita Serna alone.

Piedrahita Serna was taken to the police van.

Bonello testified that as they were walking to the police van, she was punched in the back and neck, and when she turned around, she found Torres Castano, who allegedly punched her below the left eye.

She insisted that the accused had punched her.

Cross-examination

Under cross-examination, legal aid lawyer Sarah Ciliberti drew Bonello’s attention to what can be heard in the bodycam footage. In that footage, Bonello is telling Torres Castano’s sister: “You should have thought of that before you hit me” after the sister apologised to the constable.

Bonello insisted that she was in a state of shock.

The lawyer also challenged Bonello on why she speaks about her client’s sister with fellow officers, but insisted in court that Torres Castano was the one to punch her.

Police Sergeant Owen Pace testified that Bonello told him that she had been punched in the eye.

He also recalled that after escorting Piedrahita Serna to the police van, he returned to the scene and found Torres Castano lying on the ground and that she appeared unconscious.

The sergeant testified that he saw his colleague, Bonello pushing the accused, before the constable turned around, touching her face and claiming that she had been punched.

Under cross-examination, the defence lawyer suggested that her client had fallen because the constable pushed her, but Pace only witnessed the constable keeping the woman at a distance.

Torres Castano also took the stand in the criminal proceedings, explaining that the bouncer had not let in her sister and their friend, and she had insisted that they should leave.

The woman overheard her sister shouting and turned round to find Piedrahita Serna on the ground while police officers arrested her.

The woman recalled following the police to find out what happened to her friend.

She tried to draw their attention before a police woman turned around, pushed her, and she fell to the ground, losing consciousness. When she reopened her eyes, she found two male officers looking at her, before they helped her up into the van.

Torres Castano testified that the police woman ignored her, and that she grabbed the constable’s wrist to grab her attention. It was then that she had been pushed to the ground.

While under preventive custody, Torres Castano’s sister called the accused.

In one of those calls, the unnamed sister told her she punched the constable after the latter pushed Torres Castano to the ground.

The court, in its consideration,s observed that it was not contested that the woman fell.

However, none of the officers could explain what happened.

The accused confirmed she grabbed the constable’s wrist.

The court observed that Torres Castano was specific and gave a detailed version of events, which shed light on the dynamics.

An analysis of the phone calls between the accused and her sister revealed that the latter was worried about whether she was under investigation.

The court also analysed the footage presented in court and still photos taken from that footage.

From the footage, it emerged that Torres Castano’s sister was behind Bonello, and three seconds later, an arm is seen going in the constable’s direction.

Bonello is overheard saying: “don’t touch me. [...] Don’t touch me. I already told you, don’t f****** touch me.”

A slap can be heard.

From the footage, it emerged that Torres Castano’s sister shouted “my sister, my sister” after the accused was pushed and left behind them lying on the ground.

The constable is overheard saying “f***ing hell what you've done to me [qaħba x’għamlitli. Qaħba bagħla x’għamiltli] man”, with the court ruling that there is no doubt this was about the woman wearing the black-strapped dress or the accused’s sister.

Bonello is also heard saying: “do you know how many times you hit me?” The sister replied: “what happened to my sister?” to which Bonello replied: “you hit me”.

The court underlined that Bonello did not tell the woman wearing the black dress: “your sister [Torres Castano] hit me”.

The sister is also heard apologising to the constable, to which Bonello replied: “You should have thought of that before you hit me”.

The court observed that it was impossible for Torres Castano to punch the constable since she had been on the ground.

Selective footage

The court observed that the police officers could be heard swearing and cursing in the footage. It also raised concerns about the selective footage presented in court, noting that not all bodycam footage was brought.

Bonello can also be heard telling passers-by to turn off their camera and not film the incident, with the court remarking that this does not bode well for transparency.

The court found it worrisome that a serious investigation was not conducted into the case, noting that the aggressor could have been identified from the bodycam footage had the police analysed it properly. It noted that the accused and her sister were wearing different clothes, and the woman wearing the black dress had punched the police woman.

Moreover, the timeline of events excluded Torres Castano as having been the perpetrator.

“All of this was not taken into account before arraigning the accused under arrest, where she remained for almost seven months, away from her family and daughter,” the court said.

“This is a miscarriage of justice,” Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech said, adding that such incidents should not be repeated.

“The police are duty-bound to analyse all evidence before arraigning under arrest. The accused’s sister hit the police while the accused was unconscious. Instead of giving her medical assistance, Torres Castano was arrested,” the court underlined.

The woman was found guilty of three contraventions: disobeying legitimate police orders, attempting to use force against Bonello with the intent to insult, annoy or hurt, and breaching the public peace.

The court reprimanded the woman for her behaviour, telling her that if she did not agree to the action taken by the police, she should contest such behaviour in the appropriate forum.

The judgment was sent to the Police Commissioner to evaluate whether any administrative proceedings should be instituted against the police officers involved in the incident.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech presided.

Police inspectors Jonathan Cassar and Dylan Pace prosecuted.

Legal aid lawyer Sarah Ciliberti assisted Torres Castano.