'Hostile' witness to remain under arrest till Tuesday

A magistrate yesterday ordered that a witness whom she termed as "hostile" be kept under arrest until Tuesday when he will be given a fifth opportunity to testify.

Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani Grima warned the witness, a man whose name cannot be published by court order, that as a witness he was legally obliged to give testimony.

She also warned him that she could order the Attorney General to take legal action against him for refusing to give evidence and that such an offence was punishable by imprisonment.

The man has been held under arrest since he was first called to give evidence in the compilation against Richard Grech and Joseph Zammit last Tuesday.

Grech, 35, of San Gwann, and Zammit, 44, of Floriana are pleading not guilty to the murder of bank messenger Alphonse Ferriggi outside the San Gwann BOV Branch on September 18, 2000, at about 5.30 a.m.

They are also charged with holding Ferriggi against his will, stealing bank documents, carrying a shotgun without a licence and at the time of the commission of a crime, firing a gun within 200 metres of a residential area, causing damage to a BOV van, stealing a VW Golf from Sliema a day earlier and relapsing.

Despite being called to the witness stand for four consecutive days the man insisted that he did not remember what he told police when they questioned him about the case because at the time he was not in a fit state.

The case continues.

Police Inspectors Carmel Bartolo and Christopher Pullicino are prosecuting.

Dr Anglu Farrugia and Dr Edward Gatt are appearing for Grech while Dr David Farrugia Sacco is counsel to Zammit.

Dr Jason Azzopardi and Dr Kris Busietta are representing Ferriggi's wife.