‘The Worst Nightmare’: 34-Year-Old Marsa Woman Wrongfully Raided And Detained By Police While Topless
A 34-year-old detention officer was wrongfully detained in her home in a near-nude state following a police raid and is now seeking legal action against the officers involved.
According to Times of Malta, the Marsa residence was breached on 12th August by four male officers who “literally ripped off” her apartment door and bound the bare-chested woman with tie-clips after being abruptly woken up by the commotion.
The officers from the Special Intervention Unit conducted the search as part of a series of raids taking place within the area in connection with a human trafficking investigation, in assistance with the Vice Squad and Crime Investigation Department.
The woman was sat in a chair for 20 minutes, still undressed, as the officers searched her home, yet to provide her with reason, a means to cover up or a warrant.
After the search concluded, two higher-ranking officers, one female, joined and informed the woman that she was no longer under arrest, after which she was finally asked for her personal details.
It was later discovered that the raid was wrongfully conducted at her penthouse, while it was supposed to be targeted towards an apartment below hers.
Following this revelation, the woman filed a criminal complaint at the police Professional Standards Unit, which was evidently dismissed, with the corps claiming that “nothing irregular” happened.
The woman claimed that the corps justified the forceful entry with the “absurd pretext” that the officers involved were acting on “reasonable suspicion.”
The events left long-term negative effects on the woman, even costing her her career as a detention officer, as the trauma “rendered her unfit to work.”
The woman is now seeking legal justice, appealing to the constitutional courts with the clam that the incident “breached her fundamental rights to protection against arbitrary arrest and degrading treatment.”
Apart from requesting for the court to take the appropriate measures to safeguard her fundamental rights, she is also requesting for the State Advocate and Police Commissioner to be held responsible for the rights’ breach and compensate the pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages.
Her applications have since been signed off by the relevant lawyers, Arthur Azzopardi, Jacob Magri and David Chetcuti Dimech.
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