Harassment case against policeman declared time-barred

A case against a Drugs Squad police constable, charged with breaching the peace and committing a crime he was in duty bound to prevent, collapsed this morning, after a clerical error resulted in the case being declared time-barred.

PC Oliver Borg had been arraigned on the 11 March following an incident with his former partner, who is also a policewoman.

During that sitting, the court had been told that Borg had called at the house of his former partner in Mosta, banging on her front door, blaspheming and threatening her and her new partner. A similar incident had allegedly also taken place at the police depot, after which the victim had filed an official complaint.

During the previous sitting, the court had ordered two assistant police commissioners, Carmelo Magri and Martin Sammut, to be summoned to explain why he was only charged with breaching the peace when he should have also been charged with harassing and threatening his former partner.

But in today’s sitting, Joe Giglio, Borg’s lawyer pointed out that his client had been served with papers indicating the incorrect date. The police had issued the summons on 12 February, when the first sitting was held on the 11th.

When Borg was eventually correctly notified, his charges stated that he was to appear on the 11 March. However, by the time he was actually notified, the three-month prescriptive period for contraventions, which runs from the day of the incident, had elapsed.

The prosecution had argued that as the punishment for the offence was increased by one degree - due to the fact that it was committed by a police officer - it crossed the threshold from contravention to a crime. The prescriptive period for crimes is of two years, they said. Magistrate Carol Peralta, however disagreed, pointing out that an aggravation did not affect the prescriptive period.

In a previous sitting, lawyer Arthur Azzopardi, appearing in parte civile for the victim, had told the court that this was an attempt to constructively dismiss his client, accusing Assistant Police Commissioners Carmelo Magri and Martin Sammut of orchestrating a cover-up.

Azzopardi had described the fact that no charges of domestic violence were levelled at the accused together with their failure to notify the officer - who works at the police depot in Floriana - as inexplicable. Azzopardi had been assured that the case was being investigated by the Police Internal Affairs Unit, but a subsequent follow-up found that the unit had no file on the matter.

The lawyer had said that when the charges were filed, he had found that they had only been issued with regards the breach of the peace, with no mention of the harassment and threatening of the policewoman to be found.

But today, faced with the incorrectly dated summons, Azzopardi had no choice but to reluctantly concede the prosecution’s argument that the case was now legally time-barred.

Magistrate Peralta ordered Borg be released from the accusations made in his regard.