Dutch prisoner Perry Ingomar Toornstra, who was allegedly beaten by four prison warders, was charged yesterday with his attempted prison break.

He pleaded not guilty before magistrate Michael Mallia to violently resisting, threatening and assaulting warders Francis Debono, Francis Meli, Daniel Cuschieri and George Falzon on 9 August between 8 pm and 9pm.

Toornstra was being escorted back from an hour of prison leave he spent with his mother who had come to Malta to visit him. On his return to prison, he escaped from the car he was held in and ran his way up to Paola Square, where he was apprehended near a bank branch.

The four warders on Saturday pleaded not guilty to slightly injuring Toornstra, inflicting pain and pushing him with the intent to insult him and committing crimes they were duty bound to prevent.

Toornstra was also charged with slightly injuring Debono and Meli, public officers who were carrying out their duties. The two warders on Saturday pleaded not guilty to letting Toornstra escape through carelessness.

The Dutchman, who appeared in court with his left hand in a cast, pleaded not guilty also to violently breaking the peace and relapsing.

Defence lawyer Joe Brincat told the court that his client pleaded not guilty as charged but had the charges been different, he would have pleaded guilty. However, Dr Brincat did not specify which charges he was objecting to.

He also told the court that Toornstra, who is jailed at maximum security Division 6, is living in degrading and inhumane conditions as he does not even have a fan in his cell.

Dr Brincat also told the court that Division 6 was closed down during a visit by the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). The lawyer said the division was repopulated after the delegation left the island.

Magistrate Mallia informed the director of prisons about Toornstra’s complaints and asked him to see that no prisoner was treated inhumanely.

Toornstra, 32, an oil rig worker, was found guilty by a jury in 2001 to importing over 4,000 ecstasy pills and 460 LSD trips and conspiring to import the drugs. He was arrested on 22 April 2000 along with two other Dutchmen.

He was jailed for 20 years and fined e9,3174.93 by then Judge Patrick Vella and had his penalty reduced to 15 years and e58,234.33 on appeal in 2003.