Self-confessed swallow shooter set free by court – BLM

In a statment issued by Birdlife Malta today, the NGO said, “a man who admitted to illegally shooting and killing a protected bird has had his case thrown out by a magistrate’s court, after the court decided that the evidence against him was insufficient.”

“The case centred on an incident witnessed and reported to the police in September last year by Bob Elliot and Ian Thomson, Heads of the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) Investigation Unit in the UK and Scotland respectively, who were attending BirdLife Malta’s Raptor Camp.

“In testimony given in court on the 24th October eyewitnesses Mr Elliot and Mr Thomson stated that on the 21st September they had both observed the defendant at Salina shooting at passing Barn Swallows, one of which fell to the ground when hit,

“They then recorded video footage of the defendant picking up and handling the bird and using it to train his young retriever, and phoned the police to report the incident,” Birdlife said.

The Barn Swallow is a protected species and its hunting or possession is illegal.

Birdlife continued that, “ALE officers subsequently questioned the man from the video, who confessed to shooting at and killing a protected Barn Swallow while hunting at Salina on the date in question.

“The video of the incident, eyewitness statements and photographs of the suspect’s vehicle, were handed over to the police to support their investigations and this evidence was presented to the magistrate’s court in the case for the prosecution.

“At a second hearing on the 30th November 2012 the defence lawyer pointed out that the video evidence didn’t actually show the hunter in the act of shooting the protected Barn Swallow he was later seen handling.

“The prosecution failed to draw the court’s attention to the defendant’s confession to the police and the court accordingly concluded that video alone did not constitute sufficient evidence on which to base a prosecution.”

When BirdLife Malta said that it called for police to mount an appeal, senior police officials informed the organisation that “the decision could not be appealed.”

Commenting on the outcome of the case, the RSPB’s Ian Thomson said, “I’m utterly appalled that such a clear cut case has ended up being thrown out by the court. Bob and I recently travelled back to Malta especially to give our evidence to the court. We both have considerable experience in assisting in the investigation of wildlife crime offences in the UK and there are few cases when two of you witness an incident, can identify the perpetrator, provide supporting video evidence, and there is an admission by a suspect.

“This astonishing result raises very serious questions about the effectiveness of law enforcement and prosecution for wildlife crimes in Malta. It is no surprise that so many protected species continue to be killed, when such compelling evidence is either not presented to or disregarded by the court. Where is the deterrent?”

The video, which is available on Youtube at http://youtu.be/o5WbqGhO4kk ^[1], shows a hunter (the defendant in the case) picking up a Barn Swallow and using the bird to train his young retriever, he was later questioned by the police and admitted to shooting and killing a protected Barn Swallow.