Discrepancies in evidence presented in the Nicholas Azzopardi enquires

READ MORE Nicholas Azzopardi Case, Part 1

Following the first report on the Nicholas Azzopardi case, MaltaToday attempted to get in touch with a number of persons involved in the case. Last week, MaltaToday revealed a number of glaring gaps in the evidence presented and clear contradictions in police testimony.

Serious doubts emerged regarding the mysterious death of Nicholas Azzopardi, who passed away in 2008 after sustaining serious injuries in an "accident" while under arrest at the Police Headquarters in Floriana.

Shortly before dying on 23 April 2008, Azzopardi was recorded on film recounting that he had been severely beaten by police officers and dumped at the bottom of the adjacent bastions.

Since then, three magisterial enquiries and an internal police enquiry have exonerated all police officers involved in the case of all wrongdoing; but the family of the deceased has all along insisted that these enquiries overlooked vital clues and misinterpreted crucial data which would otherwise point towards foul play.

Serious discrepancies in the testimony of eyewitnesses were completely ignored by the enquiries, while crucial evidence - including CCTV footage of the Floriana depot - had been heavily tampered with. The CCTV footage used in all enquiries was prepared by court expert Martin Bajada and former police inspector Paul Caruana.

Footage had been edited, and entire sequences of frames - which would have been crucial towards determining what really happened on 9 April, 2008 - were entirely deleted.

Speaking to MaltaToday, Caruana, who is now employed at the department of criminology at the University of Malta, said that he would rather not comment about the case.

However, while insisting that he had submitted a detailed report and given his testimony, Caruana said that his involvement in the case was limited to "extracting the footage from the system from point A to point B".

Caruana denied ever deleting any sequences and explained that he submitted the footage he extracted together with the viewing software on a DVD. He insisted that his job did not go beyond pulling out the footage from the back-up system before the footage was overwritten.

"I did not analyse the footage. I was not asked for an interpretation of the footage but I was simply asked to capture the data from the hard disk," Caruana said. He noted that court expert Martin Bajada carried out the analysis.

The former police inspector also explained that in normal circumstances, the extraction of data is carried out by the police force's Forensic Department, however Caruana said that he was asked to do the job himself.

Pressed to say by whom he was asked to carry out the job, Caruana said that he could not remember. However, when asked whether it was Assistant Commissioner Michael Cassar, Caruana said: "It could be that I was asked by Cassar."

On his part, court expert Martin Bajada could not be reached and after calling him at home, MaltaToday was informed that Bajada is abroad.

Strangely, following last week's report on MaltaToday, Bajada's personal webpage was taken offline. The webpage was online up to Saturday 20 October, however it was removed in the days following the report published on Sunday. 

On his webpage, Bajada claimed to be "Malta's leading independent forensic expert on digital information and electronic equipment." He also claimed that he was appointed by the Maltese courts on over 1,900 cases since 1993.

Nicholas Azzopardi captured by CCTV walking towards the back of the Forensic block, followed by Rueben Zammit's shadow.

Shadow of Adrian Lia turning around the Forensic block corner where he stated that Zammit and Azzopardi stood 25 metres away from him.

An aerial view of the Forensic block, the IRU offices and the spots where Lia and Abela stood.

Missing forensic department camera

The team of experts working on the Nicholas Azzopardi case were informed by people working at the Police Headquarters in Floriana of the existence of a CCTV camera overlooking the rear entrance of the Forensic Department.

This camera should have captured Nicholas Azzopardi and his escort PC Rueben Zammit, who according to the evidence given by Police officers, were waiting behind the Forensic Department while Azzopardi's other escort and interrogator, Adrian Lia, made sure that Azzopardi does not cross paths with the former's estranged wife, who was waiting in the reception area.  

However, no mention was made of this camera, which could have provided crucial evidence of what happened while Azzopardi and Zammit were waiting for Lia, in the report compiled by Caruana and presented to Judge Albert Manche who held an inquiry on the case.

Although CCTV cameras at the depot in Floriana are installed on all exit points and doors, this camera, overlooking the rear entrance to the Forensic Department building which stores important and expensive equipment, was never mentioned and no footage from this camera was ever presented.

It seems that some works were carried out at the rear end of the building just one day before the Azzopardi incident happened, although it is not yet clear what kind of works were carried out.

The Azzopardi family is being aided by a team of experts with vast experience in law, information technology, Police and Court procedures, medicine, forensics and psychology. 

What happened behind the Forensic Department building?

In his testimony, disgraced former police sergeant Adrian Lia claimed that while Azzopardi was being accompanied to his car by himself and police officer Rueben Zammit, he suddenly remembered that Azzopardi's estranged wife and his mother-in-law were waiting in the reception area.

At this point, he ordered Zammit and Azzopardi to wait for him behind the Forensic Department building (Photo1) while he cleared the way for Azzopardi to proceed to the car search and have his details recorded.

According to Lia, as soon as he was returning to the road behind the forensic department, he turned around the corner (Picture 4) and saw Azzopardi and Zammit standing by a wall, 20 metres away from him, where the incident subsequently took place.

However, Nicholas Azzopardi was retrieved unconscious at least 60 metres away from where Lia was standing, at the corner of the Forensic Department building.

In his testimonies, Lia recounted that at this point, as he called Zammit and Azzopardi to reach him, Azzopardi launched himself towards the wall overlooking the bastion as Zammit turned around to look in Lia's direction.

Once again, Lia and Zammit's testimonies do not match with the facts confirmed in all the enquiries and investigations held since.

In his testimony in the initial police investigations held three hours after the incident, led by Assistant Commissioner Michael Cassar, Lia made no mention of the distance between himself and Zammit and Azzopardi. He said: "I turned back to inform PC 1359 (Rueben Zammit) to bring Azzopardi to the photography room and as soon as I turned around the corner, I saw PC 1359 together with Azzopardi, maybe four steps apart, looking at each other, with Azzopardi leaning against the barristers. As I called PC 1359, he looked at me and suddenly I saw Azzopardi climb up the wall behind him as if he was going to launch himself."

However, in the inquiry held by Judge Manche, Lia testified on 8 May 2008 and said: "I turned around the corner and as soon as I turned, I saw Rueben and Azzopardi about 20 metres away from me...behind the Forensics."

In his third testimony, on 13 May 2008, Lia told Magistrate Anthony Vella: "No, he was not hearing my calls and I could not see him (Rueben), then as I turned the corner I saw Rueben and Azzopardi a few metres down, approximately a few metres, I do not know exactly."

In the fourth inquiry also held by Magistrate Anthony Vella, in his testimony given on 11 May 2012, Lia said: "As I turned around the corner PC 1359 was maybe, they were maybe about 20 metres inwards, roughly 20, 25 metres away from the corner next to..."

In all enquiries, both Lia and Rueben Zammit were called to testify together. In the initial investigations held on the same day of the incident, Zammit did not give any indication of the where Azzopardi was in the few seconds preceding his alleged plunge.

However in his testimony to Judge Manche on 8 May 2008, Zammit said: "Then after around five minutes, Sergeant Adrian returned, he was around 15 metres away from us and called me as he turned the corner..."

More interestingly, in his testimony to Magistrate Vella on 13 May 2008, Zammit said that as Azzopardi and himself waited for Lia behind the Forensic block, Azzopardi started walking inwards, however Zammit stopped him because it was a dead end.

PC Zammit added that the two waited by the wall overlooking the ditch below the depot and Azzopardi stood two or three metres away from him. He then pointed out that: "Ten minutes went by and the Sergeant returned. We had walked around 20 metres away from the corner."

However, both Lia and Zammit's versions, saying that Azzopardi climbed over the wall between 15 and 25 metres away from the Forensic block corner do not match with distance between the spot beneath the bastion where Azzopardi was found unconscious and the spot where Lia stood.

Approximately, the spot where Azzopardi allegedly jumped off the wall was 60 metres away from the spot Adrian Lia stood. In fact, Azzopardi was retrieved unconscious from the ditch below the IRU offices.

This raises a number of questions which were neither asked nor answered in the inquiries. What really happened behind the Forensick block and the IRU offices building? How did Azzopardi end up lying unconscious in the ditch around 60 metres away from the spot where Adrian Lia was, when the latter claimed to have seen Azzopardi take a plunge just 20 or 25 metres away from him?