Under-fire sergeant previously probed over assaulting French student

A police sergeant who is being probed after he allegedly threatened and manhandled a man who snapped a photo of him drinking alcohol while on duty at a gentlemen’s club in Paceville, had been prosecuted after he had allegedly threatened a French student who had photographed him drinking at Paceville while on duty.

The case goes back to 2009, when the tourist photographed Police Sergeant Ramon Mifsud Grech and two other police officers drinking at a bar in Paceville. It was alleged that after spotting him, the police officers and a bouncer then pinned the French student against the bar and kicked him, smashing the camera in the process.

The officers were subsequently arraigned in court but in 2012, they were acquitted due to a mistake in the time on the police charge sheet. The officers were then re-arraigned - only to be cleared of all charges again due to double jeopardy, meaning that they could not be charged twice over the same offence.

Moreover, in August 2012, PS Ramon Mifsud Grech was again at the centre of controversy after then-police commissioner John Rizzo had said that the sergeant “lacked professionalism” when dealing with a group of customers at a McDonald’s outlet in St Julian’s.

The case revolves around an incident when McDonald’s staff asked a customer to leave after he was being too loud. The police were called in to deal with the “commotion,” and the customer ended up on the ground and arrested before being charged with threatening two officers and to refusing to give his particulars.

In clearing the man of all charges, Magistrate Francesco Depasquale had further ruled that the court was “convinced” that the incident had not happened in the way the police had alleged, and argued that the police may have used “excessive force.” The magistrate had also ordered that an internal inquiry be carried out. 

On Saturday, the police confirmed that Sergeant Mifsud Grech is currently being investigated over claims that he “manhandled and threatened” a man who photographed him drinking alcohol while on duty in Paceville on Boxing Day.

In his police report, the victim, Karl Baldacchino, 31, said that upon snapping the photo of the sergeant, he was confronted by him and other police officers on duty.

“Somebody drew his attention that I had snapped a photo in the state he was and upon learning this, PS 928 walked over to me grabbed me by the neck and told me to delete the photo,” Baldacchino said, adding that after insisting that he would not delete the photo since they were in a public space, the police sergeant and other officers forcefully dragged him out of the club.

He also said that he was then hit in the face and had his arm-twisted before being asked to hand over the phone.

Baldacchino also said he was then dragged into the police van parked in the Paceville main square and before handing the phone over.

He was subsequently released and had his mobile phone returned – without his memory card. In his police report, Baldacchino said that he is “extremely worried” at this, more so after being PS 928 asked Baldacchino whether he was scared of having paedophile pornographic photos discovered on his phone.

However, in comments to the Sunday Times of Malta, police sergeant Ramon Mifsud Grech distanced himself from any wrongdoing, arguing that he would prefer it if the memory card is found as it would prove that he was not drinking at the bar.

Disputing Baldacchino’s version of events, the sergeant also said that he was called to the club to investigate a report that a man had held a knife against someone’s throat, and that he was not drinking but merely talking to the victim of the alleged knife incident.

He said that he does not know what happened but the club’s security officials dragged out a man who was bothering the girls and taking photographs of him when it was prohibited to do so.