Updated: Chetcuti accused of attempted murder of Vince Farrugia

Contractor and GRTU council member Sandro Chetcuti this morning was charged in court with the attempted murder of GRTU Director-General Vince Farrugia.

He was also accused of beating up Mr Farrugia, seriously injuring him and threatening to kill him. The incident happened yesterday afternoon.

He pleaded not guilty.

Police InspectorJames Grech told the court that there were eight witnesses to the alleged crime. Investigations showed that Mr Chetcuti had waited for 90 minutes to speak to Mr Farrugia outside his office.

Mr Farrugia then called him into his office and asked other people to leave.

After a short while these people heard shouting and banging in the office and on entering, they saw Mr Farrugia on the floor, face to the ground, with blood coming out of his head. Mr Chetcuti was punching him.

The inspector said that Mr Chetcuti continued to hit Mr Farrugia and it took three men to pull him off. As they took him outside, he continued to shout "If not today, tomorrow I will kill you."

When asked to give his particulars to the court, Mr Chetcuti said that he did a lot of work for the GRTU.

Magistrate Lawrence Quintano issued a six-month protection order for Mr Farrugia and banned Mr Chetcuti from going to the GRTU offices.

Defence counsel Manuel Mallia, Arthur Azzopardi and Edward Gatt said the accused was prepared to accept house arrest if bail was not granted, and pointed out that he did not have a criminal record.

The prosecution objected to the bail request and said that eight witnesses were scared of Mr Chetcuti. They also pointed to the seriousness of the crime, saying that Mr Chetcuti, a 38-year-old man, had beaten up a 65-year-old.

Magistrate Quintano after a brief adjournment, decided to remand the accused in custody.

The defence counsel asked the court to file a request in private. Journalists were then asked to leave the courtroom. Sources said later that the request was upheld, but it was not known what the counsel had actually requested.

VINCE FARRUGIA LEAVES HOSPITAL

Meanwhile Mr Farrugia left hospital earlier today - 24 hours after the incident.

Sources said he had a swollen face, bruises and stitches.