Judge warns witnesses in murder trial

Mr Justice Lawrence Quitano ordered a witness to be kept in the court lock-up today after warning him three times to speak the truth during the murder trial of Richard Grech, 44 of Qormi.

Mr Grech is accused of the fatal shooting of bank messenger Alphonse Ferrigi outside the Bank of Valletta branch in San Gwann 11 years ago.

 Joseph Zammit, 52, of Floriana, who last year was jailed for 30 years for his part in the murder, told the court that he could barely remember anything of what he had previously told police.

He said that all he could recall was that on the night before the murder, three men turned up at his house and asked him to drive them in a rented a car to San Ġwann. The  men, he said, included the accused.  He said he was threatened to do what they told him to.

Mr Zammit insisted that he could not remember anything.  Mr Justice  Quintano told him that he had better start telling the truth or he would institute criminal proceedings against him.

Mr Zammit said he was “already in prison for nothing”.

After a third warning, the judge told Mr Zammit that he would remain under arrest at the law courts until tomorrow morning when a decision about him would be taken.

Another witness, Carmel Borg, 29, (who had previously told police that he had heard the accused speaking about the crime in a bar) handed a psychiatrist's certificate to the judge as soon as he took the witness stand.  The judge declared that he was still able to testify.

Speaking in a slurred manner,  Mr Borg said that he could not remember a thing since at the time of the murder he was very high on drugs. Although he was warned by the judge to tell the truth, the witness insisted that even if proceedings were taken against him, there was nothing he  could do if he honestly could not remember.

The former girlfriend of the accused testified that although he had confided in her that he might have killed someone, he used to tell a lot of tall stories and bluff.

She said that she was in a relationship with the accused for around a year before they had massive argument about him cheating on her and his drinking and they broke up.

She told the court that despite what the accused might have told her, she still went to live with him after the incident because she was unhappy at home. She added that she didn’t think much of his claim because of his bluffing.

Lawyers Chris Cardona and Mark Vassallo appeared for the accused.