Man who admitted to ‘false’ report on Star animal abuse, acquitted

Carmel Sacco, 45, from Kirkop was acquitted of having filed a false police report against Alfred Vella, the owner of the field adjacent to where a dog was found buried alive in 2011.

In its decision the court considered that on May 15, 2011 Animal Welfare Department officers doing inspections near Ghar Hasan, Birzebbuga had found a dog which was still alive after being shot and buried.

The location of the dog was pinpointed by Carmel Sacco. The Police were informed of the case and Inspector Priscilla Caruana spoke to the accused, who claimed that his neighbour Alfred Vella was responsible for the shooting. The dog had been buried for 14 hours until it was rescued by animal welfare officers.

The Police interviewed Alfred Vella, who at first denied any wrongdoing. In the meantime whilst visiting the dog at the Animal Welfare facility, the accused told an animal welfare official that he had information about the case but wanted to remain anonymous. Subsequently he sent an unsigned letter containing these details to the animal welfare department, which letter was handed over to the police.

During their investigations the police found that the two neighbours had longstanding tiffs over property between them. The accused was again interviewed by the police and he admitted to having filed a false report and that the details in the letter were in fact fabrications. At this point the police charged Sacco with filing a false report.

However the police investigations in the case of the shot dog again pointed at the other man and Alfred Vella was later jailed for three months and fined €10,000 after admitted in court to having shot the dog at his field in Birzebbuga. He also admitted to charges of animal cruelty, manufacturing a home-made gun and being in possession of stuffed, illegally hunted birds.

In a separate hearing back in 2011, Carmel Sacco was conditionally discharged against a deposit of €1,000 and a personal guarantee of €3,000 over charges related to hunting and trapping regulations and irregularities in the keeping of firearms.

Franco Debono and Gianluca Caruana Curran appeared for Sacco.