The man accused of shooting a number of storks allegedly called up his friend shortly afterwards to say he “screwed up.”

This emerged as Magistrate Astrid May Grima began hearing the compilation of evidence against 41 year-old James Magri from Dingli, who is accused of shooting three of the protected birds.

Before starting the sitting, the Magistrate declared that her partner is a member of the FKNK and asked if there was any objection. There was none.

Magri’s friend, Roderick Galea, who was offered immunity from prosecution if he tendered evidence, took the stand.

Galea had finished work at 1830hrs on Friday 10 August, he said, and had gone near James Magri and another man in his field near Dingli. “We usually just have a coffee and say a few words,” he said. The men had noticed a number of storks flying nearby.

“Two of us stayed there, me and Sherizen. While we were looking at them we heard three shots. Shortly afterwards James came and told us to close up and go home. He looked a little confused and harried. He told them that he had shot at birds but we didn’t see what he had hit.”

After they left James called him and asked where he was. “He said ‘I screwed up.’”

Cross-examined by lawyer Edward Gatt, Galea said that he hadn’t seen any dead birds or birds getting shot. The lawyer asked if there were any other hunters rooms in the fields surrounding the area. There were five or six hunting hides in the area he said.  He confirmed that he had seen James’ shotgun, before the incident.

Another witness, Shenizen Borg from Birkirkara, took the stand.

He had been at home and had gone near James Magri at around 1815hrs. “I found him with his shotgun. Later a guy called Roderick came with us. Shortly afterwards the Storks arrived over the school.

“The storks landed on some poles near us. James moved away to a different position. Shortly afterwards we heard three shots and we didn’t see anything we kept on looking at the storks. Then he came and said “close up close up let’s go.”

Borg hadn’t seen any dead storks either, he said.

The youth had released a statement to the police after turning down the offer of having a lawyer present “James was a bit agitated when he came back”, said Borg.

Joseph Psaila had been cycling in the area. He had seen some large birds in the Dingli area. “They appeared to rest on some poles. I stopped to take some photographs of the birds. By the time I got off the bike one of them flew off, I heard some shots and saw some birds go down. By the time I turned the corner. I saw a man running with a shotgun in one hand and a bird in the other.

He went in to a side street and emerged with a shotgun only.” He gave footage from his bike-mounted camera to the police, he said.

Gatt asked him to identify the shotgun in the still photographs provided from his camera. He could not. “Are you telling me that you identified things that the camera didn’t see?” asked the lawyer.  “I don’t know what the camera saw, I know that I saw a man running with birds and shotgun,” replied the witness. The camera had a wide angle lens and the man was less than 100m away, he said. “On my way back I saw a dead bird and I tried to call ALE but couldn’t find a number. I found the number for Birdlife.”

Gatt asked if he had discussed the issue with Birdlife before. The witness replied that he had.

ALE officers testified that a search warrant was carried out in Magri’s house. A showcase with stuffed birds was seized. A freezer was searched but found to be empty.

Prosecuting Inspector Colin Sheldon also testified, explaining that Magri’s field was less than a 30 second walk away from where one dead bird had been found.

Gatt requested bail. He would be contesting the admissibility of the footage from the bicycle camera, he said.

The court upheld the request for bail, releasing Magri from arrest as all the prosecution witnesses had now testified. Magri was required to deposit €3000 and provide a personal guarantee of €7000 as security for bail. He was also ordered to sign a bail book once a week.