A Magistrate has thrown out the testimony given by two police constables, Simon Grech and Robert Vassallo, after the prosecution failed to summon them for various Court hearings in order for them to be cross-examined by the defence.

The two officers claimed that a man who kidnapped his nine-year-old son tried to run them over with his car.

Magistrate Giovanni Grixti heard how the man’s children were taken away from him when his ex-partner was found in possession of drugs.

He was found not guilty of a number of other charges levelled against him by the prosecution, who claimed that the man tried to run the two officers over.

The man told the Court how he used to visit his son daily at the care home and could no longer take seeing him in tears.

A search was mounted by the police on the day that the man kidnapped his son from the home.

They managed to trace the boy’s location, and were waiting for the father when he returned from a bar with a friend.

It is at this point that the two police officers claim the man tried to run them over.

Magistrate Giovanni Grixti ruled that the facts do not corroborate the police’s version of events.

The Magistrate noted that despite their claim, the only injury was a small scratch by one of the officers.

Their testimony in Court was deemed inadmissible, as the prosecution failed to summon them for cross-examination by the defence on numerous occasions.

The father told the Court that the police pulled him out of his car and threw him to the ground as soon as he pulled over.

He had a beer bottle in his hand at the time which caused the officers to overreact, but this was only because he did not want to leave the bottle in the car due to the smell, he said.

His version of events was corroborated by his friend, who was also in the car at the time of the incident.

While the Magistrate deemed the father’s decision to kidnap his son as wrong, particularly for the trauma it caused the boy, the prosecution failed to prove a number of other charges levelled against the man, including driving without a license and insurance.

The prosecution did not even bother calling up a Transport Malta official to verify if the man has a license of not, the Magistrate ruled.

He noted that the prosecution even said that the man cooperated with the police in their investigations.

The man was conditionally discharged for three years.