Daryl Luke Borg inquiry ‘reveals police rashness and miscommunication’

Nationalist Party organ In-Nazzjon has published an inquiry by a police board into the wrongful arrest of Daryl Luke Borg, which inquiry was completed on September 2013 but never published.

In selected extracts, the inquiry report criticises the police CID for its haste and lack of diligence in arresting the suspect in a hold-up of a store on Triq Mgr Alfred Mifsud in Birkirkara, which took place on 4 August, 2013.

The hasty investigation led to the wrongful arrest of Daryl Luke Borg, 27, of Birkirkara, his arraignment and preventive custody at Corradino prisons because his request for bail was refused.

On 4 August 2013 at 9pm, a balaclava-clad man- who police eventually identified as Roderick Grech- entered ‘The Convenience Shop’ in Birkirkara as its workers were closing up shop. With a toy gun in hand, he robbed the shop of between €700 and €1,300 in cash. That same night, Criminal Investigation Department police and Birkirkara district police arrived at the scene of the crime. According to the report, the two police departments conducted separate investigations while not communicating with each other.

For reasons unknown, following their investigations, CID inspectors Carlos Cordina and Joseph Mercieca arrested 27-year-old Daryl Luke Borg and charged him in court three days after the hold-up incident. Borg, who had denied all charges, ended up spending two nights in prison.
District police investigations, led by inspector Elton Taliana, resulted in the interrogation of 22-year-old Roderick Grech. During his interrogation, Grech admitted to having committed the hold-up, recounted certain details that matched perfectly with the district police’s information, and gave the police the balaclava and toy gun he had used. After analysing CCTV footage, the police concluded that Grech’s stature was identical to that of the person who had committed the hold-up.

On 9 August, Grech was charged in court, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to a year in prison suspended for two years. He was also ordered to return all of the money he had stolen. Borg was subsequently released from prison.

In November 2014, the Opposition presented a parliamentary motion calling on then-home affairs minister Manuel Mallia to publish the results of the Daryl Luke Borg inquiry. In a House Business Committee meeting last week, Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela said that it was up to the Police Commissioner to decide whether or not the inquiry report would be published.