Arrest of man who called police for assistance 'illegal'

A magistrate this afternoon ordered the immediate release of a man charged with resisting the police and interfering in their investigations. Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera ruled that the arrest of Justin James Caffrey, the chief executive of a financial services company that operates from Malta, was illegal. The court heard how Mr Caffrey was walking through St George’s Road in Paceville just before 5am today when he saw a bouncer beat up a young man. He went to call the police and two police officers arrived and only to say that an ambulance was on the way. Mr Caffrey’s defence lawyers, Giannella de Marco and George Hyzler told the court that their client was shocked at the officers’ “inaction” and was tapping on their shoulders to do something about the incident. Mr Caffrey was holding the young man in his arms and had his shirt covered in the youth’s blood. The ambulance arrived and took the youth to hospital but Mr Caffrey could not understand how the police officers “walked away from their duty”. Seeing their nonchalance, the Irishman called the police “f***** b*******” and that was when he was pinned to the ground and arrested. He was charged under arrest, accused of...