A man has been spared prison and losing €12,000 in bail bonds after his family testified that he was at a family barbecue when police claimed to have spotted him elsewhere. 

Two police officers had allegedly spotted Frederick Dalli, 37, driving a blue Peugeot bare-chested and without a seatbelt in Cospicua on August 10 at around 6.15pm. 

Dalli had been banned from entering the town as one of the conditions of two bail decrees. 

Before the officers could catch up, the man in the blue Peugeot reversed and disappeared out of sight. 

An hour or so later, the patrolling officers once again spotted the accused, leaning against a iron railing, chatting to a group of persons. The same vehicle was parked nearby. 

They headed straight back to the Cospicua police station and informed their superior about Dalli’s alleged presence in the no-go area. 

The inspector summoned Dalli to the police station three days later.

Dalli denied the allegations outright, was granted police bail and was subsequently arraigned, pleading not guilty to breaching previous bail conditions. 

During the proceedings, Dalli testified that on that particular evening, he had been at a family barbecue at Rinella Bay and had returned home at 9pm, the hour specified under a court-imposed curfew. 

He denied that he was the one allegedly spotted by the policemen that August evening, adding that the Peugeot vehicle which they claimed he had been driving, had been involved in a robbery while he was under police custody. 

The two officers themselves also testified, explaining that they had not stopped the accused in the first place because he had managed to get away. The second time they saw him, they had not arrested him on the spot since they deemed it best to inform their superior first. 

The accused’s brother, son and son’s girlfriend also testified, confirming that Dalli had been at the barbecue and had only strayed out of sight to buy ice creams from a kiosk further along the bay. 

Meanwhile, another police officer testified that Dalli had been present at the site of a traffic collision which had taken place that same afternoon at around 4:30pm, at Rinella Bay. 

Faced with these contrasting versions, the court, presided over by magistrate Victor George Axiaq, concluded that the defence’s witnesses had been “consistent on one important fact,” namely that on August 3, 2020, between 6:00 and 8:00pm, the accused was at Rinella Bay “not at Cospicua as alleged by the police.”

Their testimonies had cast “more than reasonable doubts,” upon the prosecution’s case, the court said. 

Moreover, the court was “perplexed” as to why the officers had failed to promptly arrest the suspect after spotting him twice.

“It made no sense to say that they had sought go-ahead from the inspector,” observed the court, adding that the law clearly gave police officers the power to arrest a criminal suspect, escorting him immediately to the police station, rather than wait for permission to do so. 

In the light of such evidence, the court pronounced an acquittal. 

Lawyer Mario Mifsud was defence counsel.