The Court of Appeal has cleared a bird trapper from Gozo after the prosecution failed to prove beyond doubt that the man seen in the footage of the crime was indeed the accused.

The case dates back to March 2016, when volunteers from the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) spotted a man hidden in the bushes who had laid out a trap to catch a protected bird. The man was identified by the volunteers as Joseph Axiaq. Following a police report, Axiaq was arraigned in court in December 2016 where he was found guilty of all charges, fined €3,000 and had his license suspended for two years.

The charges leveled against him were catching a protected bird, trapping during the closed season and carrying out such activities without the proper license.

This was appealed by Axiaq's defense team, who argued that the first court could not reasonably find the accused guilty because he had not been identified in footage passed on to the police by CABS volunteers. It was argued that the level of proof required at law was not met and that the imposed penalty was unnecessarily harsh.

Axiaq's lawyer also stressed that the lead CABS volunteer had mixed up the accused with a separate court case.

The footage shows a cage with a decoy finch bird inside, a bird caller could be heard and a man can be seen hiding. The man only turns his face to the camera for a few moments, and was identified to be the accused by Sergeant Frank Portelli, who was never called up to the witness stand to testify to this effect.

Another hole which was poked by the accused's lawyer is the fact that the CABS volunteer first said she saw Axiaq driving away in a particular vehicle, but it turned out that she was muddling up court cases, then revealed that she saw him walk away but did not know what vehicle he used.

Police on the scene identified three cars around the site in question. Neither belonged to Axiaq however one vehicle was registered at the same home address of the accused.

The court of appeal, presided over by a Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri, observed that the only person who could positively identify the accused was Sergeant Portelli, however the officer was not called to testify. The other person to identify Axiaq had contradicted her own testimony and was therefore found to be unreliable.

In view of the, the courts liberated Axiaq of all charges brought against him.

Chief Justice Camilleri remarked that he is in full support of the harsh words the first court used when it slammed hunting and trapping when it is done so illegally, however it added it could not find the accused guilty without the necessary proof presented proof presented in court.

 

File photo