Lifeline's registration questioned, defence says most witnesses 'irrelevant'

The German captain who carried a group of migrants to Malta was once again in court on Thursday to face charges of steering an unregistered boat within Maltese territorial waters without the necessary registration and licence. Claus Peter Reisch, a 57-year old German national, was arraigned under summons five days after the vessel docked at Boiler Wharf in Senglea. The ship was carrying 233 migrants it had rescued off Libya when it docked at Boiler Wharf in Senglea.  Read: Lifeline docks, most migrants claim to have escaped torture in Libya Sergeant Daniel Felice from the immigration department at seaport said the vessel first entered Malta on June 10 when it had come in for repairs. Asked by defence lawyer Cedric Mifsud whether he had seen any irregularities onboard, Mr Felice said he was only involved with analysing information on the passengers and so would not know anything about such issues. Police constable Karl Micallef said he was asked to take photos of the vessel and with drawing up a report, which he presented to the courts. Dr Mifsud again asked whether he had spotted any irregularities, to which the police officer said he was only responsible for taking...