Hooded hunter fined €4,650

A hooded hunter who was recently filmed by a BBC crew while hunting at the Natura 2000 Nature Reserve in Mellieha was today handed a three year hunting ban and fined €4,650.

The court also ordered that everything found in the possession of the accused is confiscated.

Carl Borg, 30 of Mellieha was with another hunter inside the Mellieha reserve when a film crew filmed them as they hunted while they were hooded.

Members of Birdlife Malta took the witness stand and David Tippling told the court that while at Ghadira he had noticed two hunters walking towards an abandoned hotel in the area.

When the men reached the hotel they donned balaclavas and fired a total of six shots. Tippling reiterated that the first of these shots was fired from next to the building but the other five were shot when the hooded men were inside the Nature Reserve

The other hunter, Christian Gauci, 27 also of Mellieha, had pleaded guilty to the charges, He was banned from hunting for three years, fined €4,658 and had his gun confiscated.