Sergeant confirms he reported constables for assault after reports by colleagues

A police sergeant testified on Tuesday how he had flagged incidents where three constables allegedly abducted and assaulted migrants they found on the streets. Sergeant Alex Gauci was testifying in proceedings against constables Luca Brincat, 20, Rica Mifsud Grech, 22, and Jurgen Falzon, 24, who pleaded not guilty to the charges last week but were refused bail. Sergeant Gauci, who is stationed in Hamrun, as were the three accused constables, said he was a former mentor to one of the accused, Luca Brincat. He had flagged the alleged incidents involving the three constables after a fellow sergeant told him about how other officers at Hamrun had opened up to him about the alleged violence. Under cross-examination by lawyer Franco Debono, he said that he was not familiar with the Qormi valley where some of the assaults allegedly took place but he categorically denied having instructed his subordinates to take any drunken migrants to the Marsa potato sheds and not to the police station. “An ambulance is called to assist any drunk or unconscious persons,” he said. Earlier, the court agreed to a defence request to appoint a psychiatrist to examine one of the alleged victims to confirm...