Accused sought two men to murder a woman, court hears

Josef Grech, who stands accused of killing Patricia Attard in Ta' Qali on February 13 this year, had offered Lm10,000 to a man to kill her. The man refused and Grech approached another person on the same day the victim was killed, a court heard yesterday.

The court continued hearing evidence in the case against Grech, 32, of Balzan who is pleading not guilty to Attard's murder.

Grech also stands charged with the possession of a weapon at the time of the commission of the crime, with having the weapon without a licence, stealing Attard's mobile phone and damaging her car.

Jason Dalli, a driver, testified he knew Grech for several years as they were both drivers, though working for different companies.

Dalli said he was having a drink with the accused at the San Gwann bocci club sometime last December. Grech then left to speak to Charles (Attard) known as il-gagu.

The witness said he could not hear what was said between the two but the following day il-gagu told him: "Your friend is crazy. He offered me Lm10,000 to kill someone".

Glenn Borg testified that he was at the same club some two months before the Ta' Qali murder took place and overheard Grech offer Lm10,000 to il-gagu "to eliminate a woman". After Grech left, il-gagu had told him that Grech had offered him Lm10,000 to kill a woman. Borg said he had told il-gagu that he should not do it, even if he offered him Lm100,000 and il-gagu agreed with him.

Emmanuel Caruana said he had known Grech for a long time but had lost touch with him. He had once met him in traffic and Grech asked for his phone number as he wanted to offer him a job.

Caruana said Grech had spoken to him several times but never wanted to say what the job entailed. On February 13, Grech phoned him several times and finally called at the bakery where he worked and asked him whether he was going to do the job or not, and when the witness asked what kind of job it was, Grech said he had to "eliminate a person".

Caruana said that when he asked him whether he meant that he had to kill someone and Grech replied in affirmative, he asked him whether he was crazy and the accused told him he should have told him before that he was not interested, warned him to keep his mouth shut as his mother "would get it", swore and sped off.

Caruana said he had not bothered to see what Grech was offering for the murder to take place as he was not interested. Caruana said he had told the police he was afraid of Grech and preferred to testify without he and Grech seeing each other.

The case continues.

Inspectors Chris Pullicino and Carmel Bartolo are prosecuting.

Dr Giannella Caruana Curran and Dr Emanuel Mallia are appearing for Grech.