Accused told friends of burglary plans - police

Jurors in the trial of a man accused of murdering an 82-year-old woman yesterday heard how three of the man's friends told police that he had spoken to them about burgling the woman's house.

"After a confidential informant pin-pointed three men who would be useful in the investigations into the murder, I asked them to come to my office," Police Commissioner John Rizzo testified.

"These men were (Mario) Pollacco's friends. They told me that the accused had told them that he intended to burgle the house of an old woman who lived in his neighbourhood.

"Two of the men told me that Pollacco wanted someone to assist him in the burglary to ensure that the woman would not recognise him."

Mr Rizzo said that in a statement released in his presence, Pollacco was asked if he had told his friends that he would have to kill the woman if she recognised him. To this Pollacco replied: "I did not steal and neither did I kill."

Mr Rizzo testified before Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono in the trial by jury of Pollacco, 38, of Msida, who is pleading not guilty to the wilful homicide of Rose Mary Schembri in her house on June 4, 1998.

He is also charged with the theft of over Lm1,000 worth of cash and precious stones, qualified by violence.

Police Commissioner Rizzo, who was then an assistant commissioner stationed at the Criminal Investigation Department, testified that on Thursday, June 4, 1998 he was informed that an elderly woman had been found dead in her Msida house.

Mr Rizzo explained how he received confidential information that the three men, whose names cannot be published by court order, would be helpful in investigations into the case.

The informant led police to suspect in Pollacco, so Mr Rizzo ordered the arrest of Pollacco and called the three men, separately, to his office for questioning.

The first man informed the commissioner that Pollacco had told him he intended to burgle the house of an old woman who lived in his (Pollacco's) neighbourhood. The man said Pollacco was to give him Lm100 of the stolen money.

On the Wednesday that the woman was murdered Pollacco had told him that he was going to carry out the burglary that day.

Pollacco phoned him later on and told him that he had succeeded in his plan and that he had stolen some Lm10,000 in cash and gold objects.

The man also told Mr Rizzo that Pollacco had told him that he hid the money on an Msida building site, but police searches proved negative.

The other two men, Mr Rizzo said, told police that Pollacco had asked them to help him rob an old woman. "They told me that Pollacco asked them to go with him, hold the woman and blindfold her while he took the money since he knew where she hid it.

"He wanted someone to go with him because he did not want her to recognise him. The two men also said Pollacco told them that if she recognised him he would have to kill her," the police commissioner said.

At this point, Mr Rizzo was asked to read out the statement Pollacco released before him and Supt. Bertu Mula.

In the statement Pollacco said that he could not remember if it was a Tuesday or a Wednesday when Schembri called him into her house.

He went into the hallway where she told him that three youths had beaten her on her legs and chest with her walking stick.

Pollacco then said he offered to fix the broken chain that she used to lock the door, but she did not want him to. He showed Schembri how to place a chair against the door so that no one could come in. He then left and went to his mother's house and eventually went home.

In the statement, Pollacco admitted telling the first man that he intended to burgle the woman. He explained that he had just received a cheque and owed the man money and made up the story about burgling the woman because he wanted to keep the man away from him to enjoy his money. In fact, he told him not to go to his house because police would probably soon suspect in him and go to his house.

Pollacco denied his involvement in the case and insisted that he did not steal Schembri's money or kill her.

Under cross-examination, the police commissioner said that Pollacco never admitted to committing the murder. He also said that the three men never mentioned that Pollacco killed the woman.

Police Inspector Stephen Gatt was then called to the witness stand and confirmed that Pollacco had released another statement in the presence of Supt. Mula, Supt. Paul Debattista and himself.

In this statement Pollacco explained that a few days before Schembri was killed she gave him Lm10 to buy her a statue of Our Lady. He managed to find one that cost Lm8 and when he went to give it to her she was so happy that she told him to keep the change.

He said that she treated him better than anyone else since she had respect for him. This, he explained, was because he never insulted or made fun of her as others did.

Pollacco said that she had once told him that she was broke because the person who cashed her cheques had not turned up in a long time.

Two of the three men took the witness stand in turn and said that Pollacco had told them at the time that he had financial problems.

One of the men said he was Pollacco's friend and that three months before the murder Pollacco had asked him to help him burgle the old woman's house.

But the man did not like the idea because he was scared to fall back into an old habit and start stealing again.

He told Pollacco that the woman's neighbours would immediately suspect it was him. But Pollacco answered that suspicion was not enough, they would have to prove it.

The other man, also Pollacco's friend, testified that some time before the incident the accused told him that he wanted to steal a good amount of money. Pollacco said that he knew an old woman who had a lot of money but that he could not bring himself to rob her since he knew her. He did not ask him to do anything with him.

Under cross-examination, he said that recently Pollacco's friend, known as Id-Diddu, approached him and told him that Pollacco wanted to have a word with him.

He denied telling id-Diddu that, believing Pollacco to be innocent, he feared saying the truth under oath.

Earlier, Majed El-Shaer testified that in 1998 he lived in an apartment situated across the road from Schembri's house. On Tuesday, June 2, 1998, he was at home when he heard Schembri cry for help. He ran outside and saw a foreign couple helping Schembri up after she had fallen on the pavement.

El-Shaer said the woman told him that three men had beaten her up. She was holding her forehead but the foreign man assured her that she had nothing.

She then said that there was a ghost in the house and the witness stated that at that moment he could hear the sound of shattering glass inside her house.

Schembri, he said, asked him to go to the police because she feared that the three men wanted to kill her but he went back home.

Schembri's nephew, Louis Borg, recounted how his aunt sometimes told him that she was scared on her own and mentioned an episode when someone had forced the door open.

He said that she lived on pension money and sometimes mentioned to him that a certain Ic-Catra, whose identity he did not know, cashed cheques for her. He did not remember her ever mentioning the name Mario Pollacco.

Joan Pollacco, the accused's mother, said that, as she did not leave the house for health reasons, she only got to know about Schembri's death when her friend, Guza Falzon, told her the following Friday.

She explained that Falzon told her that she thought Schembri had died of a heart attack. But Mrs Pollacco replied that she thought the old woman's death might have been caused by a group of youths who often made fun of her.

Mrs Pollacco recounted how that Friday her son went to her house as usual and asked her if she knew who had died. She told him that Falzon had just told her, and that was the end of their conversation on the subject.

Mrs Pollacco said that she did not notice anything strange about her son that day or the day before.

The trial continues.

Dr Michael Sciriha, Dr John Attard Montalto and Dr Philip Galea Farrugia are appearing for Pollacco.

Seniour Counsel to the Republic, Dr Mark Said, is prosecuting.