A 24-year-old Cospicua resident has been jailed for one year and fined €5,000 after he was found guilty of the illegal shooting of a kestrel yesterday, an incident that led to the spring hunting season closing three days early.

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale also banned Kirsten Mifsud from hunting for life, and ordered the confiscation of his shotgun. Mr Mifsud gave notice of appeal.

Mr Mifsud faced a total of four charges related to the shooting of the common kestrel, which fell into the school yard of St Edward's College in Vittoriosa as students were taking their lunch break. He allegedly shot at the bird from the area known as Tal-Fata, an area in the limits of Żabbar close to the school.

Within hours of the incident, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced the closure of the spring hunting season.

In court, prosecuting inspector Jurgen Vella, from the Administrative Law Enforcement unit, said that the police received a phone call informing them of the shot kestrel at around 12:30pm yesterday. Police officers went on site, and a teacher informed them that she heard some five shots before the bird fell.

The police subsequently received information that Mr Mifsud shot at the bird, and that other persons were with him when the incident happened. Three other persons - Joseph Aquilina, Sean Spiteri and Christopher Bonello - were arrested and spoken to, but were released without charge as there was no evidence that they had done anything wrong.

Mr Mifsud was arrested at his home, and during questioning, he said that he went to the area with Mr Aquilina, and that while he took his shotgun there, he did not use it. Insp. Vella then confronted him, telling him that others told the police that he shot at the kestrel, but Mr Mifsud continued to deny his involvement.

Mr Mifsud was asked whether he saw or heard anything related to the incident, since he was claiming he was not involved, but he said he did not.

During cross-examination, defence counsel Jason Grima focused on Mr Mifsud's shotgun, questioning whether the shotgun was capable of firing five shots as reported.

The lawyer also suggested that one of the police's informers may have shot at the bird and framed Mr Mifsud, but Insp. Vella said that he could rule this possibility out, based on his investigation. He also pointed out that the three who spoke to the police are Mr Mifsud's friends, and would have no interest in framing him.

In reply to questions by lawyer Arthur Azzopardi, who was appearing in parte civile on behalf of the FKNK, Insp. Vella confirmed that the area is a public area used by hunters, and that the ALE regularly went on site to monitor the situation.

The inspector also confirmed that the bird suffered an eye injury which would probably mean that it will lose its eye.

Mr Aquilina was the next to testify, stating that in the morning, he agreed to go hunting at Tal-Fata with Mr Bonello.

He went there at around 7am and went home at around 9:30am. But he had to return on site to meet Mr Bonello, and ended up giving a ride to Mr Mifsud.

Mr Aquilina said that while he was talking to Mr Bonello, he heard three shots, stating that while he thought that a turtledove had appeared, he then realised that it was a bird of prey. Shortly afterwards, he heard another shot and saw the bird fall into the school grounds.

During cross-examination, Mr Aquilina said that his own shotgun was in the van when the incident happened. He said that he did take the shotgun with him at a later point, but only to ensure that it was not stolen, stating that he did not even remove the cover.

Mr Aquilina said that his reaction was to ask Mr Mifsud "are you mad," and the accused replied that "I went blind." Mr Mifsud was some 50 paces away from him, while the bird was some 200 paces away.

In reply to further questions by Dr Grima, he said that he did not see Mr Mifsud fire the first three shots, but said that he was certain that he had fired them, as he saw him with his shotgun raised immediately afterwards. But he said that he could not confirm whether he fired the final shot, which he said led to the bird falling.

Mr Spiteri was next to testify, stating that he went hunting in Xgħajra in the morning, went home to eat and then went to Tal-Fata.

He said that he was some 60 paces away when he saw Mr Mifsud fire three shots - though during cross-examination, he said that he was not able to see the bird at the time because the vegetation was obscuring his view, although he had seen it a shortly before, flying towards Mr Mifsud's position.

Dr Grima questioned whether Mr Spiteri fired at the bird, but did not press the matter.

Mr Bonello was the next witness, stating that he was hunting at Tal-Fata when he saw the bird of prey and ended up hearing a total of seven shots: two rounds of three shots and a single shot.

He did not see anyone fire his shotgun, but said that there were two people in the area the shots came from: Mr Spiteri and Mr Mifsud. Mr Bonello said that while three of the shots came from one location, while the other four shots came from another, but confirmed that he could not identify who fired them.

During cross-examination, Mr Bonello confirmed that he was an FKNK member, and that he called the federation to speak to its lawyers. Asked why he did so, he said that he wanted to testify behind closed doors, and denied any involvement in the incident.

As he made his submission, Insp. Vella stressed that the law is clear that it was enough to prove that the accused fired at the bird - and not prove that he hit it - and that it was clear that the bird could not be mistaken for a huntable species. Dr Azzopardi added that more than one witness confirmed that Mr Mifsud shot at a protected bird, even though they were clearly very uncomfortable with testifying against him.

Dr Azzopardi said that the sentence would reflect the seriousness of a case which led to the early closure of the hunting season, and that he should be banned from hunting for life.

Dr Grima, however, argued that the evidence was merely circumstantial, and insisted that other hunters shot at the bird, including Mr Spiteri and Mr Aquilina, who both confirmed that they had their shotguns on site.

He said that these two witnesses had an interest in hiding the number of shots fired, pointing out that none allegedly heard the seven shots Mr Bonello claimed to have heard. He accused them of lying, questioning why the court should accept their evidence, and said that they framed the accused, who completely denied even firing his gun, let alone aiming at the bird and hitting it.

The lawyer said that Mr Bonello's testimony, on the other hand, appeared to be genuine, but noted that he did not implicate Mr Mifsud in any way. He also insisted that the witness' assertion that the shots he heard were fired from different locations was crucial.

Dr Grima also insisted that the witnesses colluded so that it would not be an FKNK member who is convicted over the crime: Mr Mifsud is not a member of the federation.

But if his client is found guilty, he said, he should only be convicted for what he did, and not for what the government did in the aftermath.

Magistrate Depasquale then deliberated for over an hour before reading out his sentence.

He noted that the court could not but note that Mr Mifsud refused to testify in his defence, and that while witnesses may have reported hearing different numbers of shots, they confirmed that Mr Mifsud had aimed at the bird.

The magistrate questioned how legislators could permit such activity taking place so close to a school, before stating that the court needed to send a message that the law should not only be observed, but also respected.

Lawyer Noel Bianco also appeared for Mr Mifsud, while lawyer Kathleen Grima also represented the FKNK.

Dr Grima had objected to Dr Azzopardi and Dr Grima's appearance at the start of proceedings, stating that only injured parties had the right to be represented as parte civile, and not simply interested parties.

However, Dr Azzopardi replied that since the season was closed as a result of Mr Mifsud's alleged actions, the FKNK's members would qualify as the injured party, while Dr Grima then said that the season was closed following a number of incidents, and not just what his client was alleged to have done.

But ultimately, Magistrate Depasquale said that there was no doubt that FKNK could be considered to be an injured party in this case.