Police Inspector Elton Taliana has lost a libel case he had instituted against the editor of GWU Sunday paper it-Torca.

The inspector had taken exception to a news report about the wrongful arrest of a man, a report which also said Inspector Taliana knew about this and failed to act.

The newspaper said two inspectors made a mistake when they successfully arraigned Darryl Luke Borg over a Birkirkara hold-up but Inspector Taliana made a bigger mistake since he knew that Borg had been wrongly imprisoned but did nothing to get him out.

The libel proceedings were instituted against former it-Torca editor Alexander Farrugia.

The court heard how two CID Inspectors and Inspector Taliana, from the Birkirkara district, launched parallel investigations after the Convenience Shop in Birkirkara was held up on 4 August 2013.

The CID Inspectors, Carlos Cordina and Joseph Mercieca, arrested Mr Borg two days later. He was arraigned the following day and was remanded in custody.

Inspector Taliana was told on 7 August that he needed not continue his investigation since the perpetrator had been caught and arraigned.

But on 8 August, Inspector Taliana received information that it was a certain Roderick Grech who had held up the shop. The Inspector informed the duty magistrate (not the same one leading an inquiry into the hold-up), who issued a warrant for Grech’s arrest.

The Inspector interrogated Mr Grech the following morning, since the accused could not meet his lawyer on the day he was arrested. Mr Taliana informed the duty magistrate (a different magistrate from the day before) that he was ready to arraign Mr Grech, who had admitted to carrying out the hold-up.

Inspector Taliana informed his superiors that he had arrested Grech over a hold-up without saying that this was the same robbery for which Mr Borg had been arrested.

Shortly before the arraignment, Inspector Taliana told the duty magistrate that another person had already been charged with the same crime. He only told his superiors that Mr Grech had been arraigned in connection with the Convenience Shop robbery after the arraignment.

The court said these details had even been confirmed in the findings of the police board, which had slammed the investigation and said that miscommunication between the CID and district police had led to serious consequences.

Inspector Taliana said comments by it-Torca in the sense that he was responsible for looking out for the interests of an innocent person and that he had  failed to inform his superiors that he had arrested the real perpetrator so that Mr Borg would be released were defamatory.

Alex Farrugia said the article was based on facts which people had a right to know. He also said the article constituted fair comment.

The court, presided by Magistrate Francesco Depasquale, said that, as a police officer, Inspector Taliana was subject to wider limits of acceptable criticism than a private individual. It also found that the GWU newspaper report was based on verified facts. It was clear that the inspector had known that Darryl Luke Borg had been arraigned. The Magistrate said the inspector had not reported Mr Grech’s arrest to his superiors but kept the information to himself. He only informed his superiors after the arraignment of Mr Grech. It was clear that there were serious failings in the police investigation, which led to an innocent person being arrested and held in custody for longer than a day.

The court ruled that the newspaper report was based on verifiable facts and, as such, was not defamatory.