Convicted man’s version ‘matches that of accused’

A man accused of murdering a Gozitan traffic warden told the police that he had gone along with the plot as he was afraid of the mastermind, jurors heard yesterday.

However, the man he was referring to, Benny Attard, had placed the blame on the accused in his own trial and said that he was in fact afraid of him.

Police Commissioner John Rizzo yesterday took the witness stand and said that the versions given by the two men matched except for these minor details.

Bus driver John Attard, 64, known as Il-Muħa, yesterday pleaded not guilty to killing Fortunata Spiteri, 47, in 2001. Benny Attard admitted to his involvement last year and was jailed for 30 years.

A third man, Giuseppe Farrugia, also admitted to his own involvement. However, he died during proceedings.

Commissioner Rizzo said he was told by the accused that it was Benny Attard who stabbed the victim while wearing a mask used in the horror film Scream.

He said the men were arrested after a tip-off from a woman who wished to remain anonymous and it was the now deceased Mr Farrugia who had then exposed the plot to kill the warden.

In his trial, Benny Attard had pointed to the accused as being the mastermind saying the motive was the excessive number of parking tickets issued to him by the warden.

Following the tip-off, the Commissioner spoke to Mr Farrugia who told him that he used to live with Benny Attard and his sister Maria. However, he had had to move out because he was being beaten by Mr Attard.

Mr Farrugia told Mr Rizzo that he had gone to meet the accused on his bus together with the brother and sister and Benny Attard was asked by John Attard to help with a “job”.

Later on he discovered that they were going to murder the victim on the day of the feast of St Lawrence and he was asked by Benny to take part in return for a cut of the €11,650 promised by the accused.

He said on the night in question they were all picked up by the accused and drove to Għarb. According to Mr Farrugia, Benny got out of the car wearing the mask and began stabbing the victim, who recognised Maria and asked “You too?” which made Maria cower behind the car.

While they were stabbing her the victim fell to the ground but she got up, got into her car and tried to drive off.

The Commissioner said that all the versions given to the police by those involved corroborated each other except for a few minor details.

The accused, John Attard, had at first denied everything but then began admitting to his involvement piece by piece. He said he was afraid of Benny Attard and felt threatened, giving this as the reason why he had accompanied them to the murder. He told the police that he was not the one who had commissioned the murder and had given money to Benny Attard because he was so scared of him.

The trial continues.

Lawyer Lara Lanfranco from the Attorney General’s Office is prosecuting while legal aid lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace is appearing for the accused.